South Africa — Perceived levels of corruption in South Africa remain high, according to the 2013 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Published by the global organisation Transparency International (TI).

The 2013 edition released on Tuesday ranks South Africa 72nd out of 177 countries, with a score of 42 as compared to 43 it had last year.

The CPI measures perceived levels of public sector corruption, ranking countries on a scale from nought to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

In a statement on Tuesday, local civil society organisation Corruption Watch (CW) said the CPI reflected a stable, but disturbing trend for South Africa.

The country's little-changed score could be attributed to the level of outrage expressed by the public in the form of service delivery protests and eagerness to report corruption to independent civil society-based organisations.

The perceptions were also indicative of a public that had become intolerant of the abuse of public resources, and was losing trust in political, public, and business leadership.

According to TI's website, all but five countries in the sub-Saharan region scored in the lower half of the 2013 global survey -- measurements not fundamentally different to the year before.

"While [this] may give the impression of little progress, it is important to highlight that over the years, some governments have registered tangible results in relation to curbing corruption.

"In countries [such as] Cape Verde, Mauritius, Rwanda, Botswana, and Seychelles, citizens have increasingly enjoyed daily lives with limited corruption, particularly in the administration and delivery of basic services." TI’s website said.