The auditor-general’s latest report on the financial performance of municipalities, released last week, shows a marginal improvement for 2015/16, but overall the local government had failed to maintain the promising five-year momentum – gained in the years 2010/11 to 2014/15 – that he reported on last year.
The narrative of the state captured by President Jacob Zuma and his group of elites takes away from and does not acknowledge the participation and contribution of scores of people who work in administrative positions in the state or private sector, writes CW’s Leanne Govindsamy. This highlights the importance of the immediate commencement of the full Financial Intelligence Centre amendment act, which was signed into law at the end of April.
At Corruption Watch, our work is driven by our reporters. Many risk their safety, their jobs and even their lives to expose corruption in their communities and places of work, as well as in municipalities and private firms, and in dealing with service providers. Despite the risks, to date we have received over 15 000 reports since we opened our doors in January 2012.
Corruption Watch welcomes today’s Constitutional Court ruling on the United Democratic Movement’s application for a secret ballot in the motion of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma. The organisation urges the speaker to set a date promptly for the secret ballot vote in a genuine effort to uphold accountability.
The next in our integrity lecture series takes place on 29 June and coincides with Youth Month. It takes the title ‘Corruption as a hindrance for youth employment’ and is held in collaboration with Harambe Youth Employment Accelerator and Livity Africa. The event will focus on the challenges corruption poses to young people looking to find, and keep, employment.
The Constitutional Court today referred the matter of a no-confidence vote by secret ballot back to National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete, who earlier had claimed that she did not have the power to make such a directive. Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said that the speaker was mistaken when she said that, and her decision, made on 6 April 2017, was declared invalid and set aside. The notion that a no-confidence vote by secret ballot is not constitutionally permissible was incorrect, he said.
Asset management company Sygnia has launched two new unit classes of the Sygnia Money Market Unit Trust, providing a mechanism whereby any investor or saver can contribute to change in South Africa. The firm will donate 100% of the management fees associated with two new unit classes in its Money Market Unit Trust to non-political organisations fighting corruption, both in the public and the private sectors.
Corruption Watch has urged Absa Bank to respect the public protector’s findings, released yesterday, on the CIEX report, calling upon the bank to either repay the R1.125-billion bail-out granted by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to Bankorp Limited / Absa between 1986 and 1995, or otherwise launch a judicial review. However, the organisation expressed its extreme disquiet at the public protector’s finding, apparently derived from this investigation, instructing Parliament to amend the Reserve Bank’s mandate.
Gun laws save lives, but poor enforcement and associated corruption kills, writes Corruption Watch’s deputy director Ronald Menoe. And often it’s innocent children who end up in the path of a bullet. This Youth Month, we note with sadness that according to research, the leading cause of death for children in South Africa is gun wounds (49.2%), followed by stab (44.3%) and blunt force (6.6%) wounds.