It takes immense courage to blow the whistle and those who denounce corruption, whether petty or grand, face hardship and physical danger even when there’s a robust legal framework that should protect and guarantee them a fair hearing. This gripping article by journalist Olivier Piot describes the experiences of African whistle-blowers who have exposed some of the continent’s biggest corruption scandals.
It’s very simple, says South Africa’s first Integrity Idol, Captain Vinny Pillay – there’s only one path, and that’s the straight path. His strong principles and sense of altruistic caring about his community carried him through the first ever local edition of the global Integrity Idol campaign, to emerge as the clear winner.
The Constitutional Court ruled today that voters have a constitutional right to make informed election-related decisions, including knowing which private individuals or entities fund political parties. In this regard, the Promotion of Access to Information Act is unconstitutional, because it does not make provision for such disclosure. The ConCourt held that Parliament has 18 months within which to amend the legislation.
An SIU investigation report that took seven years to see the light of day has revealed corruption and financial mismanagement in the Gauteng Department of Health, to the tune of R1.2-billion. Corruption Watch, the Treatment Action Campaign and SECTION27 will actively engage the Gauteng government and the Presidency to ensure accountability for those implicated, as well as implementation of the policy recommendations in the report.
The deadline for implicated parties to respond to the evidence presented at the People’s Tribunal for Economic Crime – and which linked them to corrupt activities – has come and gone. Parties were invited to respond within three months of the release of the preliminary findings. Of those 38 parties, just two bothered to respond.
The Fair Play music competition is now open to original songs by young bands (members must be between 18-35 years old) on the themes of anti-corruption, integrity and fighting for social justice. Submit your anti-corruption music videos online from now until 1 August 2018 via www.anticorruptionmusic.org. The prize is a trip to Denmark to the International Anti-Corruption Conference, with a live performance at a top live music venue in Copenhagen.
Take Corruption Watch’s survey on the National Anti-Corruption Strategy and share with us your thoughts on it. We’re aiming to create avenues for public engagement and consultation on the draft NACS by targeting the general public, civil society and the private sector, and engage with relevant stakeholders in order to contribute to this crucial process of developing a sound anti-corruption strategy for South Africa.
Corruption Watch has announced its plan to contribute to the National Anti-Corruption Strategy, a document initiated by the Anti-Corruption Inter-Ministerial Committee established in 2014. The organisation will focus its activities on creating avenues for public engagement and consultation on the draft document, targeting the general public, civil society and the private sector for their inputs, beginning with the survey launched today.
When we investigated allegations of financial mismanagement at Walter Sisulu Primary School in Centurion, our whistle-blower specified numerous irregularities that had been brought to the attention of the Gauteng Department of Education The department, however, told us that it found no evidence of such when it investigated. In fact, it was the whistle-blower who had to take the fall, rather than the alleged culprit.