The Auditor-General of South Africa has warned that a continuation of the reckless and irregular use of funds set aside for Covid-19 relief will effectively wipe out all emergency efforts. The first of the AGSA’s Covid-19 audit reports was released on 2 September, and opacity, mismanagement, lack of fraud prevention mechanisms, and questionable transactions were the order of the day.
Corruption Watch and the Public Affairs Research Institute have written an open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa and finance minister Tito Mboweni, urging them to seize current opportunities to put lasting procurement reforms in place. The two organisations are sceptical of the president’s stated shock at the large-scale corruption exposed by Covid-19, saying that South Africans expected exactly this situation.
In this tongue-in-cheek post for the Global Anticorruption Blog, Harvard law professor Matthew Stephenson puts forward his view that the phrase there is no panacea for corruption is retired forthwith, as it is nothing more than “an unnecessary caveat when discussing this or that anti-corruption measure”.
The South African Social Security Agency had promised to pay R350 per beneficiary for the Covid-19 social relief of distress grant. About 15-million people were estimated to benefit from the fund but it was reported in the media that only 4.4-million had received the monies. The C19 People’s Coalition is calling for Sassa to pull up its socks and deliver on its promise.
The announcement that all Covid-19 tender contracts awarded under the state of disaster are now published and freely available is good news, but it must be followed by harsh punishment for those found guilty of corruption. South Africa needs to see commitment from government towards taking action that will match its strong rhetoric, because the country is as tired of empty promises as it is of corruption.
Almost three years after the Steinhoff scandal broke, former CEO and alleged fraud mastermind Markus Jooste and his cronies have still not been brought to book. In a recent BizNews radio interview Sipho Ngwema, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority, was asked to clarify the delay.
Mauritius, known as one of the world’s top corporate tax havens, is again under scrutiny from the Financial Action Task Force, which has listed the island as a high-risk country for money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities. Mauritius is not alone – other African countries under the same scrutiny include Botswana, Ghana, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
Corruption Watch is currently focused on the upcoming appointment of the auditor-general and as part of its constitutional right and duty to participate in such processes, has conducted and submitted results of a desktop screening of the six short-listed candidates. The information contained in our submission serves as a resource that could be used during the interviewing and deliberation processes.
Good governance has taken a hard knock in recent years. The Worldwide Governance Indicators, reporting on six broad dimensions of governance for over 200 countries and territories between 1996 and 2018, tell a story of shrinking good governance in South Africa and other nations.
Visit our GivenGain R20 for Change page and help us demand transparency in our systems, accountability in our leaders, and better empowerment and protection of whistle-blowers. By donating R20 a month, you’ll be supporting our work with communities across the country, helping them to know and access their rights and reduce the corruption that robs people of resources intended for their benefit.