Artificial intelligence is increasingly being mooted as a valuable tool in the fight against corruption. It even has the potential to be the custodian of social justice, in the words of a prominent South African academic. But the field is still very new and there are numerous issues and questions to be addressed before AI is unleashed on corruption.
The Department of Public Enterprises, under the leadership of Pravin Gordhan, failed to meet 42% of its targets for the 2022/2023 financial year. Presenting the department’s annual audit outcomes to Parliament, the Auditor-General of South Africa said this low achievement rate “directly links” to the stagnation seen in the performance of the state-owned entities under its control – particularly Transnet.
Corruption Watch extends an invitation to join moderator Sakina Kamwendo for a listening session marking our new five-part podcast series, Land and Corruption: Story of the Marginalised, as well as the release of a research report that addresses the intersection between land, corruption, and discrimination. The event takes place on 23 October at 18h00. See this advisory for more details.
The Health Sector Anti-Corruption Forum – of which Corruption Watch is a member – has expressed concern at the rising number of fraudulent medical claims, with the complicity of some legal firms, which the Special Investigating Unit has uncovered. These claims potentially cost the Department of Health billions which it can ill afford.
Join Corruption Watch’s Melusi Ncala and the team in a new five-part podcast series, where he discusses the work done towards the second phase of Transparency International’s Land and Corruption in Africa (LCA) project, which runs from 2021 to 2025. We are part of an eight-chapter team – with Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – that successfully completed the first phase from 2014 to 2019. Overall, the LCA project seeks to address land corruption risks and injustices in sub-Saharan Africa.
Corruption Watch has released the first in a new series of five podcasts focusing on its work in Transparency International’s Land and Corruption in Africa project. Find the link to the podcast here, as well as a compilation of our other work in the project.
The Financial Intelligence Centre, in its latest annual report, has revealed the recovery of more than R5.8-billion in criminal proceeds in the last financial year alone. This has been made possible by stronger powers that were enabled by legislative changes in late 2022, as part of the General Laws Amendment Act to address shortcomings in South Africa’s anti-money laundering framework.
South Africa’s current Protected Disclosures Act provides little incentive for employers to investigate whistle-blower tip-offs, either properly or at all, write the authors. And since there is scant likelihood of legislation alone providing sufficient protection for whistle-blowers, it should be bolstered by an independent body which will monitor and ensure employers take reasonable steps to investigate, and act on, disclosures.
Ethical public procurement is an “unassailable priority”, said finance minister Enoch Godongwana in a speech delivered at the National Treasury’s third Public Finance Management Conference, held in late September. An important part of that is consequence management, he said, ensuring that individuals and entities be held accountable for financial misconduct.
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.