Corruption Watch cautiously welcomes the appointment of career policeman Lt-General Khehla Sithole as the new national police commissioner. However, there is still concern that President Jacob Zuma did not act on the recommendations of the National Development Plan that call for a transparent and merit-based recruitment process in the appointment of this critical post.
The CW investigative team, looking into a case of alleged sexual assault by a principal on a young school pupil, identified glaring inadequacies in the social support programme intended to assist minors, and a lack of action on the part of the education department and the South African Police Service.
Corruption Watch recently probed a report of a principal allegedly sexually assaulting a schoolgirl. Our investigation uncovered a disturbing lack of urgency to bring the suspected perpetrator to justice, unwillingness on the school’s part to co-operate with our investigation, and a serial failure to help the young victim.
The consolidated version of Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer – using data from five regional reports that have already been published – shows that nearly one in four people, of all respondents around the world, paid a bribe when they accessed a public service in the 12 months prior to the survey. Read more here.
In the wake of revelations that a major British bank is implicated in South Africa’s Gupta scandal, Transparency International UK and Corruption Watch, TI’s national chapter in South Africa, have called for a firm approach to be taken to any banks involved. The two organisations have demanded a thorough investigation and full co-operation between the proper authorities in both countries.
Transparency International is committed to ensuring that its Global Corruption Barometer stays relevant for the next generation of corruption researchers, writes TI research expert Coralie Pring, and that it continues to inform the debate around corruption. To this end the organisation has initiated discussions with TI chapters and research experts to determine the way forward for the GCB.
Corruption Watch will visit with community members in Bakwena ba Mogopa, North West, next week as part of a project to research and understand the impact of the maladministration of mining royalties on communities in the region, and to identify the gaps in the legislative and policy frameworks that adversely affect the processes.
South Africans face the risk of another disastrous police appointment by President Jacob Zuma, who has a record of undermining people’s safety by picking unqualified and dishonest people to head the South African Police Service, said Corruption Watch and the Institute for Security Studies in a statement. The organisations have called on police minister Fikile Mbalula to urgently implement the NDP recommendations by establishing a national policing board to develop the criteria for SAPS commissioner.
The deadline has come and gone for MPs to disclose their business and financial interests. Last year, although the deadline was the end of August, the public part of the register was only published in February 2017 and accordingly we do not expect the 2017 register to actually be published in 2017.