Act 12 is a radical departure from the South African legislation on corruption and bribery that it replaced. Act 12's provisions follow the trend of modern international legislation in "unbundling" corruption by defining various specific actions that constitute corruption. One important provision of Act 12 is its specification of the variety of plea and sentence agreements that defense attorneys may make with the prosecution. Punishments are harsh under Act 12; for example, life imprisonment is the punishment for providing information related to or contained in a police case docket. The preamble of Act 12 makes clear why violations of the Act's provisions are such serious offenses. It states that the criminal acts defined in the law "endanger the stability and security of societies, undermine the institutions and values of democracy and ethical values and morality, jeopardize sustainable development, the rule of law and the credibility of governments, and provide a breeding ground for organized crime." This paper presents the most important definitions contained in Act 12 and then presents provisions that specify acts that constitute corruption. These include the general offenses of corruption, corrupt activities that relate to specific persons, the receiving or offering of unauthorized gratification, corrupt activities that relate to specific matters, miscellaneous offenses that relate to possible conflict of interest and other unacceptable conduct, and accessory or "incomplete" offenses. A 3-item bibliography and a list of decided cases and relevant statutes