PRESS RELEASES

Office of the public protector must be respected

The Corruption Watch board calls for respect of the office of the public protector in carrying out its Constitutionally-mandated duties. The board has issued a press statement, which is reproduced in full below: The Corruption Watch board has noted the on-going tensions between the public protector and Cabinet ministers regarding her report on the upgrade Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

National school feeding scheme – part three

By Valencia Talane The national school nutrition programme (NSNP) was launched around 19 years ago. It’s one way of ensuring that children who come from poor families have a healthy balanced meal on a daily basis. Because parents have entrusted the Department of Basic Education (DBE) with the safety and wellbeing of their children, they have not Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

National school nutrition programme – part two

​By Valencia Talane In part one of our series we shed some light, based on tip-offs submitted to us, on the ways in which the national school nutrition programme can be manipulated for personal gain. We turn now to explaining the rules and regulations behind the NSNP, and how it should be run. The NSNP, Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

National school nutrition programme – part one

By Valencia Talane A price of R22 for a loaf of bread would come as a surprise to the average South African consumer, even with the consistent rise in food prices over the past few years. It came as an even bigger surprise to a whistle-blower who alleged in a report to Corruption Watch that Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

How does schools procurement work?

By Lee-Ann Collingridge With much corruption at schools related to the buying of goods and services – commonly known as procurement – the government expends a lot of effort trying to manage the process. This has resulted in provincial education departments regularly issuing regulations to manage procurement by schools. How it’s done at no-fees schools Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

SA’s constitutional democracy under threat?

Source: Institute for Security Studies The recent attacks on South African public protector Thuli Madonsela, in relation to her report on the investigation into the R210-million upgrade to President Jacob Zuma’s private Nkandla homestead, should raise alarm bells for those who value South Africa’s constitutional democracy. After attempting to interdict the public protector from releasing her Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Nkandla story not yet over

The presidential homestead in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, is once more in the news, not only because of the ongoing squabble between public protector Thuli Madonsela and the the police, defence, state security and public works ministers, but also because of previously undisclosed documentation that has just come to light. Parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence (JSCI) Read more >

DEAR CORRUPTION WATCH

Using a minnow to nail a shark

Dear Corruption Watch, I would like to understand more about plea bargaining, which doesn't seem to serve justice. Former police commissioner Jackie Selebi was corrupted by Glenn Agliotti, who then got off in exchange for ratting on Selebi. Why is it so difficult to get sufficient evidence of a conspiracy without an informant, and why Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Gravy train rolls to a halt

Today is D-Day – or should that be C-Day – for politicians. In October, finance minister Pravin Gordhan reported in his mid-term budget speech that government credit cards would soon be a thing of the past, as existing ones would be cancelled and no new ones would be issued. This is one of the measures Read more >