South African taxpayers have forked out an estimated R521-billion over the last 15 years to keep state owned enterprises alive, and have received nothing in return. Despite the bailouts, many companies continue to fail due to financial mismanagement and corruption, and the bailouts may be much higher than the National Treasury estimates.
The Parliamentary Monitoring Group recently unveiled its latest digital tool, the ParliMeter. The platform uses open data sourced from Parliament to help residents and parliamentarians alike by improving access to information, enhancing transparency and therefore monitoring capabilities, and empowering civil society and residents to hold their elected representatives accountable.
We need more young people in the fight for accountability in the public sector, and for that to happen, they need to know what this accountability looks like, writes Moepeng Valencia Talane for CW Voices. Accordingly, Corruption Watch’s Strengthening Action Against Corruption project, based in the Eastern Cape, recently trained young activists in advocacy work, communications, and media, and how to hold each other accountable as part of the project’s Youth Ambassador for Accountability (YAfA) programme.
Extreme wealth is a threat to democracy, says the Tax Justice Network – and it is not alone in this view. The organisation is one of several voices calling for an extreme wealth tax to be imposed worldwide on the super-rich. This would not only help to address wealth inequality but also have spillover positive effects on crimes such as money laundering, drug trafficking, and corruption, through the simultaneous enforcement of beneficial ownership transparency.
A new fleet of border patrol drones, announced this week by Home Affairs minister Leon Schreiber, will monitor South Africa’s borders on a full-time basis. The devices can lock onto heat sources, such as people and moving vehicles, can travel at speeds up to 43 kph, and can operate in remote rural areas. Data from the festive season trial period, said Schreiber, shows a 215% increase in the number of attempted illegal crossings that were successfully prevented during that time.
Participants at a recent Transparency International online event discussed gender-based corruption and the challenges it throws in the path of affected individuals across Africa, especially in relation to healthcare, education, and access to land. Proposed solutions ranged from community-level interventions and collaborative approaches involving governments, communities, and civil society, all the way up to the progressive taxation of multinationals.
The Public Affairs Research Institute’s new policy brief, titled Oversight in Parliament: The Role of Committees, aims to identify ways in which Parliament’s committees can work more effectively in carrying out their executive oversight obligations. This oversight is crucial for ensuring that service delivery takes place as promised and where this does not happen, that government is answerable to the people it serves – so that all citizens can live a better quality life.
The provision for the public to participate is a core value that underpins public participation in Parliament’s framework, writes Corruption Watch’s Moepeng Talane. A recent case brought by Corruption Watch to the Constitutional Court, relating to the appointment of candidates to the Commission for Gender Equality, argues that in this instance, the public were not allowed sufficient time or information with which to make an informed decision on the nominees.
Companies and state officials are increasingly abusing protection orders to try to stop journalists and activists from doing their work, writes Anton Harber for GroundUp. These legal instruments are meant for domestic violence victims, but are used to gag reporters, which has negative implications for journalistic work carried out in the public interest.
Visit our GivenGain R20 for Change page and help us demand transparency in our systems, accountability in our leaders, and better empowerment and protection of whistle-blowers. By donating R20 a month, you’ll be supporting our work with communities across the country, helping them to know and access their rights and reduce the corruption that robs people of resources intended for their benefit.