International agencies have joined forces to tackle grand corruption across borders. Earlier in July the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre opened its doors, with the aim of clamping down on a crime category that can include bribery of public officials, embezzlement, abuse of power and money laundering of illegal proceeds.
In the wake of the recent G20 conference in Hamburg, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) noted that G20 leaders had reaffirmed their commitment to address illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products, particularly through combating corruption. South Africa is a member of the G20 and a party to CITES.
G20 governments must lead the way in ceasing to treat civil society as the enemy, writes Cathal Gilbert in this op-ed just before the recent G20 meeting. Rather, civil society plays a critical role in securing public buy-in for government policies and helps to ensure that the right programmes get implemented at the local level, and it’s time that governments accept and embrace this.
Corruption Watch expresses its sadness at the news of the passing of Emma Mashinini, former Corruption Watch board member and loyal supporter of our work since inception. We are proud to have had her presence in our organisation, and we are grateful for the immense contribution that she made to our work.
The Parliamentary Monitoring Group has published a new survey on public participation in Parliament’s consultative processes. The survey revealed that participants are neither entirely satisfied nor dissatisfied with the process as it is, and they feel that Parliament has to work harder to ensure that it garners a plurality and multiplicity of views.
On 5 July Corruption Watch and the Institute for Security Studies launched a joint public awareness campaign for transparency and merit-based selection in the upcoming appointments of the South African Police Service national commissioner and the head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations, or Hawks. It is crucial that the current serial crisis of top management in the police is addressed, as this has been identified as the root cause of most of the problems facing the police in South Africa.
Today Corruption Watch and the Institute for Security Studies highlighted the need for transparency and public participation in the upcoming appointments of the SAPS national commissioner and the head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (the Hawks). The organisations launched a joint public awareness campaign around these critical appointments, and will advocate for improvements in the way they are made.
Corruption Watch strongly endorses the investigation by the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors into allegations of improper conduct of auditing firm KPMG, in particular its 2014 audit of Linkway Trading, the company alleged to be involved in the related Free State dairy and Gupta wedding scandals. We are a;so currently consulting our lawyers regarding McKinsey’s business dealings with Eskom to assess whether to refer their conduct to the criminal justice authorities of both South Africa and the US.
One of Corruption Watch’s successes has been the way it helps people make sense of corruption matters that affect them on a practical level, says our newest board member Sithembile Mbete. For young people, especially, the type of everyday petty corruption seen at testing centres and in schools often makes the difference between success in life or not.