Open Secrets has released the first in their new series of articles on corruption in Prasa’s dealings with a front company called Swifambo Rail Leasing. This article focuses on Spanish technology company Vossloh, which made R1.8-billion through a dubious partnership with Swifambo, Open Secrets reveals, and has not paid back a cent.
The 2023 Global State of Democracy report presents a picture of both wins and losses. Although it confirmed the phenomenon of democratic backsliding observed over the last few years, there were still gains for many countries and for categories such as Participation, which measures how involved citizens are in democratic expression during and between elections.
Five years since the story broke, there is still no justice for the workers who were affected by the Fishrot scandal, says Namibia’s Institute for Public Policy and Research in a new report released in March 2024. Titled We are the Ones that Suffered the Most, the report highlights the personal accounts of a range of former fisheries workers who have suffered economic and mental hardship since they were unexpectedly let go, in some cases with no explanation.
South Africa continues to make progress in addressing issues identified by the Financial Action Task Force as deficiencies in the country’s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing regime. However, there is still a long way to go to fully address the 17 (out of 22) outstanding action items by the deadline of February 2025.
This year’s general election will be a landmark event is several ways. It is arguably the most significant and hotly contested general election of the democratic South African era. There is a real chance this time that the balance of power will shift. And for the first time, there will be three ballot papers instead of the usual two, with the introduction of independent candidates.
The Special Investigating Unit has succeeded in getting another irregular PPE tender set aside. This time, it’s a R113-million tender awarded to LNG for the supply of masks and gloves. The Special Tribunal ordered the company to repay all the profits it earned in relation to the tender.
The Nguvu Collective, an organisation committed to working with people on the ground to create a wave of change and civic engagement, has launched its South Africa 2024 Elections survey to learn more about the issues South Africans care about. The organisation says it hopes to share the results with as many political parties as possible. The survey takes about two minutes – take part now!
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) announced on 19 February that it had received the green light, in the form of a presidential proclamation, to investigate allegations of serious maladministration in the Department of Home Affairs. It also received a proclamation to investigate the same in the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa. In both cases. the SIU will recover any money lost to unlawful practices.
Earlier in February Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke appeared virtually before the parliamentary Standing Committee on the Auditor General to brief members on progress regarding the material irregularities it had identified during municipal audits. She said her office has noticed improvement in some municipalities’ efforts to submit financial statements, and there were improvements in municipalities that had previously had consecutive disclaimed audit opinions.