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.
Corruption Watch has received a positive response from the Gauteng Department of Education regarding one of the schools featured in our schools report, released last week – the department plans to de-register the school after it investigated allegations of corruption and abuse of power.
South Africa has some excellent institutions, such as the National Treasury, the competition authorities, the JSE and the justice system, that comply with the law and adhere to the highest governance standards, says David Lewis, but there are too few of them.
Students, officials in the higher education department, and those in the National Student Financial Aid Scheme have all acknowledged that corruption has played a role in the current university fees crisis.
The South African Municipal Workers Union is still looking for its missing millions – but more arrests have been made, after the arrest earlier this year of a consultant to the union. Almost R180-million is missing from the union’s coffers, and suspicions are pointing to officials from within the organisation.
Released yesterday, Corruption Watch’s new schools report highlights the main areas of corruption in schools, the key players in schools corruption and the heroic work of whistleblowers, and makes some recommendations on how to mitigate this corruption.
Corruption Watch’s new schools report reveals that 54% of corruption cases reported to us implicate principals as the primary culprits, with collusion between, among others, members of school governing bodies, teachers, family members and other outside parties involved in contractual arrangements with schools.