Corruption, tax evasion, and money laundering were just a few elements of the Fishrot scandal, which broke in December 2019. The whistle-blower was a senior executive in alleged perpetrator Samherji’s Namibian operation and part two of our mini-series is based on a recent presentation he gave at a conference, where he laid out the elaborate mechanisms by which Namibia lost millions.
Whether the motivation is noble or selfish, blowing the whistle on corruption is a tough ask. In this two-part mini-series, we learn about the motivations and experiences of Icelander Jóhannes Stefánsson, who in 2016 exposed grand corruption and money laundering in the Namibian operations of fishing multinational Samherji, and today is still grappling with the fallout.
Members of the media are invited to the virtual launch of Corruption Watch’s Transparency in Corporate Reporting 2020 report. the report that evaluates how businesses promote transparency and integrity within the sector. The event takes place on 2 December 2020 with co-hosts ODI and the National Business Initiative.
Despite two commissions of inquiry set up to determine the truth about traditional leadership in mining communities in the North West, only one report has been made available for public scrutiny and community members are as much in the dark as ever. Corruption Watch askes why, seven years later, one report is still being kept under wraps.
The UN’s high-level panel on financial accountability, transparency and integrity recently conducted a survey of the global private sector, seeking views on international tax policies, anti-bribery and anti-corruption measures, financial and beneficial ownership transparency, and recovery and return of assets. Download and read the report now.
Nearly a year ago Nigeria published Africa’s first beneficial ownership registry, focusing on the oil, gas and mining sectors. NGO OpenOwnership, which supports countries implementing beneficial ownership transparency, assessed the tool soon after its establishment, and was cautiously optimistic. South Africa, despite long-standing commitments to establish a beneficial ownership register, has yet to do so.
The sheer scale of corruption in South Africa – most recently, the pillaging of resources intended for countering Covid-19 – is, to quote the Auditor-General, ‘frightening’. It not only deprives South Africa’s most vulnerable of the support to which they are entitled, but fosters cynicism about the political environment that enables it. Civil society must demand accountability for things to change materially.
Corruption Watch’s 2020 report titled the Analysis of Corruption Trends paints a bleak picture. But it also demonstrates that South Africa’s whistleblowers are far from defeated, writes Melusi Ncala.
Despite voicing their concerns about matters of royalties and traditional leadership many times over the years, the North West mining community of the Bapo Ba Mogale are still without answers or satisfaction. The community is demanding the release of the Mafereka report, which was finalised in mid-2013 and has been kept secret ever since. The community’s hope now is to put pressure on the provincial government to release the report, by exposing its lack of action.