South Africans, put your thinking caps on – at the 16th IACC, José Ugaz of TI announced the global launch of an initiative to find the world’s three worst corruption cases. The contest forms part of TI’s Unmask the Corrupt campaign.
A parliamentary Cogta committee recently visited two troubled North West municipalities, which have been plagued by irregularities, inefficiencies and poor performance, leading to unacceptable levels of service delivery.
The reason the executive frequently found itself having to answer to the courts was because politicians were loath to obey the law, said our board member Vusi Pikoli last week. Pikoli was delivering the annual Helen Joseph Memorial Lecture at the University of Johannesburg.
Our zero for this week is the ANC’s chief whip in the Eastern Cape, Zolile Mrara, who appears to have been involved in the irregular appointment of an unqualified candidate. At his level, the chief whip should be upholding the rules rather than the opposite.
There are arguments for and against disclosure of party funding, but one compelling reason to introduce it is that it would assist in deterring and combating corruption. This is the view of former ConCourt judge and Corruption Watch board member Kate O’Regan, who was speaking at a seminar on political parties yesterday.
Some of the corruption stories that made headlines around the world this week.
As part of the ongoing My Hands Are Clean campaign, Corruption Watch’s mobile polygraph arrived at Wits University yesterday, to raise awareness of the dangers of corruption, and encourage students to not get involved in such activities.
The final date for the anti-corruption marches has changed again, from 23 September to Wednesday 30 September – because the 23rd coincides with the two important religious festivals of Eid-al-Adha and Yom Kippur, and many thousands of Muslim and Jewish supporters would be excluded.
Corruption Watch has been granted leave to intervene as amicus curiae in the matter between Hlaudi Motsoeneng and the Democratic Alliance. “We intend to use this opportunity to persuade the court that the Public Protector’s remedial directions are indeed binding, subject to judicial review,” said the organisation’s executive director, David Lewis.