The Political Party Funding Bill, on which Corruption Watch has made both oral and written submissions, has been approved by the National Assembly and is now awaiting concurrence from the National Council of Provinces. Once this has been obtained, the bill will go to President Cyril Ramaphosa to be signed into law.
US-based Net1 UEPS Technologies, the parent company of Cash Paymaster Services, will challenge a South Gauteng High Court ruling handed down on Friday last week that says its subsidiary must return an amount of R316-million paid irregularly by the South African Social Grants Agency in 2014. The company says the transaction was above board and the work for which they billed Sassa was performed on a bona fide basis.
The 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer showed few gains for South Africa from last year, while trust in the country’s government continued to decline and now sits at an almost negligible 14%.
Today the Gauteng High Court ruled in favour of Corruption Watch, setting aside a payment of R316-million by the South African Social Services Agency to social grant distributor Cash Paymaster Services (CPS). CPS was also ordered to pay back the full amount, with interest dating back to May 2014, to the state.
Today the High Court in Johannesburg ordered Cash Paymaster Services to repay some R316-million, plus interest dating from June 2014, to the South African Social Security Agency. Since March 2015 Corruption Watch has been fighting a legal battle against this payment for which, it said, there was no basis.
Corruption Watch welcomes the president’s decision to suspend Tom Moyane, as we see the SARS commissioner as one of those who has done untold harm to the interests of democratic South Africa. The organisation has declared that it will continue to push for prosecution and the serving of Moyane’s just desserts to him.
The Public Service Commission’s ‘State of the Public Service in the Gauteng Province’ report reveals that the province is well on its way to keeping a clean administration, but several of its key departments have to take matters relating to corruption and ethics more seriously than is the case currently. The PSC called on the provincial administration to tackle concerns such as irregular appointments, conflict of interest and lack of transparency with respect to making regular performance reports available to the public.
Parents and guardians must get involved in the current school governing body (SGB) elections, writes CW’s Lucky Menoe, because SGBs are the governance engines of any public school in South Africa and they must be held accountable for fairly and transparently driving the best interests of the school, whether academic, economic or simply social.
Corruption Watch will be hosting a series of activities at various community locations in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape province, between 17 and 24 March 2018, including schools, clinics, taxi ranks, town halls and shopping centres. We invite media and residents to join us!