A whistle-blower from a community in Marikana, Rustenburg, in the North West, is in hiding after receiving threats following public complaints relating to food distribution, that he made against a ward councillor. His community, meanwhile, is learning the hard way the cost of being poor and not politically connected during the Covid-19 lockdown.
On 11 June the Constitutional Court handed down judgment in the case of New Nation Movement NPC and Others v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others. The ConCourt declared the Electoral Act to be unconstitutional to the extent that it requires adult citizens to be elected to the National Assembly and provincial legislatures only through membership of political parties. Parliament now has 24 months in which to amend the legislation accordingly.
Despite Minister Bheki Cele’s new denials of police brutality in South Africa, the reality is vastly different, write CW’s Sabeehah Motala and Melusi Ncala. And reform – as well as accountability – within police ranks is long overdue.
In the latest in an ever-growing line of embarrassments for the public protector, the Gauteng North High Court has set aside her 2018 report which claimed that police minister Bheki Cele failed to provide personal protection to whistle-blowers Lesley Stuta and Thabiso Zulu.
Corruption Watch and other regional Transparency International chapters, as well as Botswana’s Center for Public Integrity, have written to the Southern African Development Community urging it to take firm and focused measures against corruption during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The appointment of advocates Rodney de Kock and Ouma Rabaji-Rasethaba to senior positions in the National Prosecuting Authority will mark an important step in the organisation’s new trajectory, says national director of public prosecutions Advocate Shamila Batohi.
Corruption Watch applauds the signing into law of the Promotion of Access to Information Amendment Act, which will require the heads of political parties and independent candidates alike to record all donations exceeding R100 000, including the identity of the person or entities making the donations, and to make these records available every quarter.
Law enforcement brutality is a part of life for many living in South Africa. While the world vents its outrage over the death at US police hands of George Floyd, South African police and defence force members have not covered themselves in glory during the national Covid-19 lockdown.
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.