In his second state of the nation address, delivered last night, President Cyril Ramaphosa promised to build on the anti-corruption strategy that is slowly gathering momentum in government. A new investigative directorate within the NPA, mandatory ethics courses, and a unit to ensure consequences for breach of government processes are some of the tactics he announced.
Corruption Watch has recently investigated a few reports of corruption in the City of Tshwane metro municipality. All involved irregular procurement or employment, and the municipality denied us access to some information, and simply ignored other requests, making it highly unlikely that the cases could be resolved.
Corruption Watch has filed an application in the High Court in Pretoria, to have former Eskom board members declared delinquent. The application, which focuses on the violation of fiduciary duties and gross negligence on the part of former board members, was served on Mark Pamensky, Brian Molefe, Anoj Singh, Venete Klein, Wilfred Khoza, Eskom, and the minister of public enterprises.
Monday 28 January is marked around the world as Data Privacy Day. It was established by the EU in 2006 to raise awareness about the importance of personal data protection. South Africa is still awaiting the full enforcement of its own legislation relating to the protection of personal data. The Protection of Personal Information Act was signed into law five years ago, but is still only partially in force.
Recently appointed national director of public prosecutions Shamila Batohi starts her 10-year tenure today. Batohi, who completed a stint as senior advisor at the International Criminal Court, is the first woman to be appointed permanently as NDPP. Experts say she is likely to prioritise the matter of stability in the organisation.
South Africa, and much of the African continent, again fail to inspire in terms of their public sector anti-corruption efforts, as the 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index shows. Released today by Transparency International, the CPI puts South Africa in exactly the same position as last year, with a mediocre score of 43 and a two-place drop in ranking from 71 to 73.
Government contractor Bosasa was hard at work behind the scenes, buying off officials, paying cash bribes of thousands, and even bending the ear of former president Jacob Zuma, who was manipulated by Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson. These revelations and more emerged during the testimony of former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi, who will continue with day 8 of his testimony on 28 January.
Corruption Watch has welcomed the signing of the Political Party Funding Act into law. The act is an essential step towards regulating party funding, and will also provide for private donors to contribute to a fund, rather to a particular party.
Corruption Watch recently hosted a roundtable discussion , which focused on our report into the role that corruption played in bringing about the capture of parts of South Africa’s criminal justice system. The report, which will be submitted to the Zondo commission into state capture, is titled Capture of the criminal justice system.