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.
The Civil Society Working Group on State Capture, of which Corruption Watch is a member, has sent, in an open letter to Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, a list of key witnesses whose testimony must be heard before the state capture commission ends its work at the end of March 2021. The list features public officials, individuals and private corporations.
The Budget Justice Coalition’s Imali Yrsizwe alternative people’s budget, released on 21 October 2020, puts the fulfilment of human rights first and replaces austerity with a long-term plan for socio-economic development that will ensure the economy and its people recover sustainably from COVID-19. The budget is the result of efforts made by progressive civil society organisations working in the budget and human rights sectors.
The Ad Hoc Committee on the Appointment of the Auditor-General has nominated deputy auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke to take over from outgoing AG Kimi Makwetu, who steps down at the end of November. Maluleke was the committee’s unanimous choice.
We live in a world where we don’t know who owns what, how they afforded it in the first place and what they are doing with it, writes Tax Justice Network researcher Andres Knobel. Companies awarded government contracts or extractive licenses could be owned by some honest person – or by the very same minister approving the contract. This is why beneficial ownership transparency is such a crucial weapon against corruption and money laundering.
On Wednesday 21 October 2020, the Budget Justice Coalition will table an alternative, people’s budget based on human rights. The coalition is concerned about the possibility of the upcoming medium term budget policy statement cutting funding to health, education, social development, local government and housing, and critical institutions.
Civil society organisations have written to the G20 finance ministers, who meet today, to remind them that CSOs and human rights defenders are key allies in addressing Covid-19 challenges, and must receive all necessary information, tools and protective equipment they need to carry out their human rights activities in safety. The organisations have also called for international debt relief and increased transparency in using Covid-19 funds.
The 2020 Exporting Corruption report, released today by Transparency International, highlights South Africa’s failure to make significant progress on convictions of foreign bribery under the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. The convention requires signatory countries to criminalise bribery of foreign public officials and introduce related measures.