African citizens who live in areas with Chinese-sponsored projects are 4% more likely to pay a bribe to police, and 2% more likely to pay a bribe for permits or documents, according to an important new research paper. Economics PhD student Jetson Leder-Luis, of MIT, unpacks the issue.
The People’s Tribunal on Economic Crime in South Africa has presented its final report, a little over six months since it first convened. The tribunal focused on three eras in the country’s present and fairly recent past, namely pre-democracy UN sanctions violations, the 1999 arms deal, and state capture.
Data gathered from reports of corruption sent by the public to Corruption Watch between 2012 and 2018 shows that in the Western Cape, the primary forms of corruption are bribery, irregularities in procurement and employment, embezzlement of funds, and theft of resources. The schools, housing, health, policing, licensing and immigration sectors are all affected.
The Auditor-General’s yearly audit report of local government in Gauteng showed that the province was the only one with 100% unqualified audit opinions. However, irregular expenditure, procurement and recruitment remain problematic, and there is still not enough consideration given to the AG’s findings.
The definition of culture, in organisational terms, can read as “the way things are done around here” and it’s important because it illustrates that culture shapes behaviour in organisations, writes Cynthia Schoeman of Ethics Monitor. But ‘the way things are done’ can range from ethical to toxic and when it’s the latter, it takes courage and commitment to turn the situation around.
The People’s Tribunal on Economic Crime will deliver its final findings to the public at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg on 20 September 2018. This comes six months after the tribunal released its preliminary report. During this interval implicated parties in business and government were allowed to respond to allegations of economic crimes, and legal arguments were prepared for deliberation by members of the Tribunal panel.
South Africa has made some progress in its efforts against foreign bribery – but not enough, Transparency International’s Exporting Corruption 2018 report reveals. The report rates countries on their enforcement against foreign bribery under the OECD’s Anti-Bribery Convention, and South Africa was found to have secured no convictions to date, seemingly preferring to give guilty parties the easy option of a plea bargain and fine. Serious consequences were few and far between.
Corruption Watch is taking its anti-corruption message to the Western Cape with a series of activities at various community locations including schools, clinics, University of Cape Town, traffic departments, taxi ranks and shopping centres. These will run from 17 September 2018 to 21 September 2018. Click for a programme of events.
South Africa has failed to make significant progress on convictions of foreign bribery, the latest Transparency International report on Exporting Corruption reveals. While 15 formal foreign bribery investigations were opened in South Africa between 2014 and 2017, three cases were closed as at December 2017 and there have been no convictions for foreign bribery to date. As an OECD signatory South Africa has an obligation under the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention to address foreign bribery.