South Africa has underwhelmed in the Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index, released today by Transparency International UK. The country was placed in the lower half of the list and is viewed as a high risk for corruption in the defence and security sector.
Ahead of the G20 summit, Transparency International UK’s Defence and Security Programme will be launching the results of the Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index for these states, including South Africa. The index is published tomorrow, 13 November.
Gauteng’s education MEC Panyaza Lesufi announced yesterday that principals at schools in the province would be rotated every year, to cut down on corruption – he was motivated to make this decision by the Corruption Watch schools report published three weeks ago.
Over the years and in many contexts South Africans have heard rumours of ‘third forces’ which are blamed for causing dissatisfaction and unrest in the country. Most recently, there were rumours of a third force involved with the recent student protests – but Zapiro has his own ideas about that third force.
Since the establishment in 2009 of the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigations – better known as the Hawks – arrest and conviction rates for serious crime and corruption have declined year on year, and today the success rate is a fraction of what it was six years ago.
Do you know a case of grand corruption which is in the public domain and deserves the toughest of sanctions? Nominate it for Transparency International’s Unmask the Corrupt campaign and if it is voted into the top spot TI will pursue the case and bring the perpetrator to justice.
Corruption remains a major cost for honest companies – in the 2015/2016 International Business Attitudes to Corruption survey, 30% of respondents believe they have lost deals where strong circumstantial evidence pointed to bribery by the successful competitor. The survey was conducted by global business risk consultancy Control Risks, and released in mid-October.
Our heroes for the week are the university students who protested with great courage and tenacity against a fees increase that would have put a tertiary education out of the reach of thousand. In so doing they indirectly highlighted the problems of corruption that have plagued the national student funding body.
The third Corruption Watch Integrity Lecture focused on youth participation in the upcoming municipal elections. The event took place at Constitution Hill on 23 October.