How does South Africa’s whistle-blower protection legislation measure up to international best practice? Our new two-part mini-series, based on an in-depth brief published by the Helen Suzman Foundation, interrogates this question.
Corruption Watch has requested the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services to exercise its oversight function and investigate whether the incumbent public protector is fit to hold office. The organisation expects Parliament to fulfil its constitutional duties in conducting this inquiry, and to do so expeditiously and transparently.
Christine Botha of the Centre for Constitutional Rights unpacks the significance of yesterday’s judgment handed down by the ConCourt against Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, as well as the events leading up to it, and explains how this judgment will underpin other activities going forward, including the inquiry of the Justice and Correctional Services Portfolio Committee. into the public protector’s fitness to hold office.
South Africa has not begun to scratch the surface of the magnitude of corruption in the private sector, said Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, speaking at an event on the eve of Mandela Day, 18 July. And it’s unacceptable to consider some people untouchable at the expense of others, because an “injustice is an injustice regardless of the perpetrator”.
The systemic nature of state capture, writes sustainable development professor Mark Swilling, means that for it to be successful, it requires the deep co-operation and complicity of the highest office in the land to secure rents, hollow out accountability, and maintain legitimacy.
Education has the potential to create economic opportunities and upward social mobility, writes Corruption Watch’s Tara Davis for Unesco. As such, we have been fighting corruption in schools for the seven years of our existence, and we are inspired by the individuals who continue to do the same, despite the difficulties.
In South Africa, police corruption leaves the public exposed to high rates of crime, and causes distrust of the police service while allowing crime to flourish, writes CW’s Sabaahah Motala in this blog post for Voices for Transparency. The situation, and the reports we’ve received relating to it, are driving our multi-faceted campaign against corruption in the police service..
The tenth edition of the Global Corruption Barometer – Africa, released on 11 July, African Anti-Corruption Day, by Transparency International in partnership with Afrobarometer, reveals that 64% of South Africans surveyed think that corruption increased in the previous 12 months.
More than half (55%) of African citizens think corruption increased in their country in the previous 12 months, while just 23% think it declined. This is revealed in Transparency Interntional’s Global Corruption Barometer – Africa, released today. Despite this, 53% of respondents believe they can make a difference.
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.