Concerned groups have demanded that the Department of Basic Education reconsider its plans to reopen schools for grade 7 and 12 learners. Education minister Angie Motshekga said schools would reopen on 1 June, but faces stiff resistance to this move.
The Department of Water and Sanitation has been requested to provide more details on a number of investigations it had instituted. These investigations involve some officials who are linked to fraud and corruption cases.
While the privileged are able to use online food delivery services to have warm meals brought to their homes, writes Kwazi Dlamini, many families depending on government’s promises of food assistance have been let down.
The Auditor-General of South Africa will be keeping a watchful eye on the use of funds marked for Covid-19 relief, particularly those coming from the R500-billion relief package announced in April 2020. In a parliamentary briefing in May Kimi Makwethu told the standing committee on the auditor-general that his office would undertake special audits of Covid-19 related funds.
An unemployed father of four shares his personal experience on how the coronavirus has impacted his livelihood.
Corruption in public procurement came under the spotlight during a presentation to Parliament by law enforcement agencies. The Special Investigating Unit, National Prosecuting Authority and Hawks assured MPs that they are working hard to root out this pernicious form of corruption.
The Civil Society Working Group on State Capture, of which Corruption Watch is a member, has written to the Zondo Commission to ask that certain urgent issues be addressed as soon as possible. Among these are the release of an interim report, the speedy resumption of hearings with all necessary safety precautions in place, and the adaptation of the terms of reference to include virtual platforms for said hearings.
With the saga around Prof Glenda Gray, the health department, and the Medical Research Council, still reverberating around South Africa, the words of the Center for International Private Enterprise’s Peter Glover – “When space for independent criticism of governments closes, it creates room for corruption” – ring even truer.
We need to do things differently in the face of the corruption and greed that deny people access to clean, reliable water, write Mike Muller and Barbara Schreiner. This has been their birthright since 1996, but corruption has hampered fulfilment of this vital constitutional right.