South Africa achieved a ranking of 44 overall in this year’s Rule of Law index, compiled by the World Justice Project. The country dropped one position from the previous index, while its score was unchanged. In 2016 South Africa topped the regional table but was overtaken this year by Ghana.
This week, 7 – 11 May, is Open Government Week. During these five days countries belonging to the Open Government Partnership will focus on developing the culture and practice of transparency, participation and accountability both in public administrations and in society, under themes such as ‘Fighting corruption’, ‘Protecting civic space’, and ‘Ensuring gender equality’.
Corruption Watch board member and retired Constitutional Court judge Kate O’Regan will preside over the disciplinary inquiry into former Sars commissioner Tom Motane’s alleged misconduct and violation of his duties and responsibilities, The inquiry was announced last week by the Presidency.
Voting has opened for South Africa’s first Integrity Idol – but you only have until 18 May to vote! We have six outstanding public servants who embody the concept of integrity in their everyday working and personal lives – read about them, watch their video, be inspired by them, and vote for your favourite.
South Africa’s print media is not doing enough to equip people with the tools to understand and fight corruption, writes Vanessa Malila. By providing people with relevant information, it can assist them to participate in topics around public processes. This will ensure that citizens are informed enough to fulfil their roles as drivers of democracy, and to hold their government to account.
A new report released by Transparency International shows that despite much fanfare three years ago on the adoption of beneficial ownership principles, the G20 has not made much progress in turning its talk into action. The majority of G20 countries still do not know who owns and controls shell companies and trusts in their territories because of inadequate beneficial ownership legal frameworks.
Meet the five finalists in the first edition of South Africa’s Integrity Idols initiative. Like its predecessors, Integrity Idol South Africa aims to inspire a national movement to honour, encourage and connect honest civil servants, using positive reinforcement.
While South Africa has a long legacy of access to information thanks to the age of its law, says Odac in its recently releases report on the state of access to information in Africa, its implementation of the law has been inconsistent and weak. However, the recent establishment of the Office of the Information Regulator is a significant development that should be consistently and enthusiastically monitored.
Some say that the cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies are potential tools in the fight against corruption, primarily because all transactions are recorded and their details may not be altered, thereby creating a trail. Others say they lend themselves to corruption because of the anonymity factor. Neither view is absolutely correct nor incorrect and the truth, says Transparency International, lies somewhere in between.