Calling professionals to account for malfeasance is not always an easy task. While regulatory bodies do exist to oversee some professions, others – like management consulting – have no rules, regulations or regulatory bodies to ensure people working in this industry conduct themselves ethically.
The 2019 Analysis of Corruption Trends Report, released today by Corruption Watch, reveals that for the first time, corruption in the police sector has overtaken other sectors such as schools, health and local government, in terms of reports submitted to us..
South Africa’s labour laws have been weaponised against people of integrity to facilitate corruption and state capture, write Corruption Watch’s Deborah Mutemwa-Tumbo and Caroline James. And the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, where such incidents are alleged to have happened frequently, is as good a place to start as any to begin reviewing and reversing the devastating effects that the abuse of disciplinary processes have had on our public administration.
Commissions of inquiry must conduct their investigations in accordance with the principle of legality and rationality – this was highlighted in the court victory today of Corruption Watch and Right2Know Campaign, who succeeded in their application to have the findings of the Seriti Commission into the arms deal set aside.
The North Gauteng High Court has ruled to set aside the findings of the Seriti Commission of Inquiry investigating alleged corruption in the acquisition of arms by the South African government in 1999. The judgment follows an application by non-profit organisations Corruption Watch and Right2Know to have the 2016 findings of the commission declared null and void and set aside for review.
The North Gauteng High Court will tomorrow, 21 August, hand down judgement on the application brought forward by Corruption Watch and the Right2Know Campaign to review and set aside the findings of the Arms Deal Commission.
Tuesday 20 August is the one-year anniversary of the public hearings of the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture. The commission has heard evidence of alleged interference and corruption in state-owned entities and government departments alike, the impact of such corruption on public officials mandated to uphold the principles of the Constitution, and the involvement of private sector companies in the mayhem – and judging by the witnesses queuing up to testify, there is more to come.
On 16 August 2019 the Constitutional Court will hear an application from New Nation Movement, an NGO, for leave to appeal directly to it against a judgment and order of the Western Cape High Court, which in April dismissed the organisation’s application challenging the constitutionality of the Electoral Act..
Effective public relations campaigns encompass many facets and components – but what unites all the different manifestations of anti-corruption PR is an effort to educate as many people as possible about corruption as an issue and, in many cases, empower those people to take action.