By Kudzaishe Chimonero
Zimbabwe has again been ranked among the world’s most corrupt countries, scoring 21 out of 100 and placing 158th out of 180 countries in the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), according to data released by Transparency International Zimbabwe (TI Z).
The findings form part of the global CPI 2025 launch which warns that corruption is “worsening globally” and that a “concerning decline in bold leadership to tackle corruption” is weakening standards and enforcement across the world.
The CPI measures public sector corruption using a composite score drawn from expert assessments and business surveys.
It captures practices such as “bribery, diversion of public funds, use of public office for private gain, nepotism in the civil service, state capture, money laundering and illicit financial flows”.
The report shows that Sub-Saharan Africa remains the lowest performing region globally with an average score of 32 out of 100.
Only four of the region’s 49 countries score above 50.
At the top of the region are Seychelles (68), Cabo Verde (62), Botswana (58) and Rwanda (58), while the lowest scorers include Sudan (14), Eritrea (13), Somalia (9) and South Sudan (9).
Zimbabwe’s continued low ranking reflects “weak oversight mechanisms, limited transparency and ongoing diversion of public resources” with supporting studies pointing to poor enforcement of anti-corruption laws and public perceptions of impunity.
The CPI 2025 report warns that shrinking civic space is making it “hard or dangerous for citizens, NGOs and journalists to freely speak out about governments”, reducing accountability and allowing corruption to flourish.
It adds that growing inequality, failing public services and corrupt leadership are fuelling public frustration, particularly among young people who are increasingly “taking to the streets to demand better”.
Despite the bleak picture, the report stresses that “corruption is not inevitable – countries that have improved their scores show that progress is possible.”
The CPI is compiled using between three and 13 independent data sources per country.
For Zimbabwe, sources include the World Bank, African Development Bank, Economist Intelligence Unit, World Justice Project, Varieties of Democracy Project and the World Economic Forum.
The process involves selecting data sources, rescaling them, calculating an average score and reporting uncertainty.
TI Z says the CPI is a critical tool for tracking progress under National Development Strategies (NDS1 and NDS2) and the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS2) as well as benchmarking the country against global standards such as UNCAC, SADC and AU frameworks.
The organisation says the index should also help “set the annual anti-corruption agenda” and guide reforms aimed at restoring trust in public institutions.
As the global report makes clear, corruption remains one of the greatest threats to democracy, justice and development and Zimbabwe’s latest ranking shows that the fight is far from over.
