Welcome to our first update of the year on all things state capture and the state capture commission and the implementations of its recommendations. This update includes the investigation into Judge Nana Makhubele’s fitness to hold office, SAP’s R2.2-billion restitution payment, Sars’ efforts to extract accountability from Gupta associate Salim Essa, and investigations into auditing companies that may have aided the Guptas.
Transparency International releases its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) on Tuesday, 30 January 2024. The 2023 CPI will assess how countries have responded to corruption over time, with a specific focus on how weakening justice systems contribute to a lack of accountability for public officials, thereby allowing corruption to thrive.
Seven months after the City of Tshwane announced its intention to blacklist Edwin Sodi’s companies for their failure to deliver on a lucrative tender to upgrade the Rooiwal wastewater plant, the companies still do not appear on National Treasury’s register of restricted suppliers. Corruption Watch has written to the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer, seeking answers.
Parliament has extended the window for public submissions on the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill – submissions will now be accepted until and including 15 February 2024. Among other aims, the Bill seeks to address the weaknesses identified through the Financial Action Task Force process, including measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, by empowering the national security structures to investigate and conduct a security assessment if a person or institution is of national security interest.
South Africa has been re-rated on most of the deficiencies in its anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing framework, noted in a 2021 evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force – deficiencies that resulted in the country’s greylisting. Most of the re-ratings showed progress being made, while a handful remained static. There were no downgrades.
One of the most basic, yet important, tenets of ethical leadership is the requirement, on a personal level, for one to have an advanced and resolute sense of integrity, writes Moepeng Talane for CW Voices – to not only do right instead of wrong, but to also create a culture of acting ethically and responsibly. On a broader scale, the organisation(s) in which an individual enjoys the honour of being viewed as a leader also has its own responsibility: to instil and maintain a culture where ethical behaviour thrives, by means of strict standards and norms that uphold that principle.
The absence of formal criminal or civil charges against former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste has raised concerns about South Africa’s commitment and sincerity to fighting high-level corruption in the corporate and private sector. Corruption Watch says the anti-corruption rhetoric coming from the government remains just that – until we actually see some high-level prosecutions, convictions, and penalties.
Part two of our mini series on copper theft in South Africa takes a look at the various measures in place to combat the problem, and action taken to date. The series is based on a recent report titled South Africa’s Illicit Copper Economy, which was released in December 2023 by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.
The NSFAS/Blade Nzimande saga has taken a turn for the dramatic, with the DA bringing a criminal complaint against the higher education minister over his alleged role in defrauding the student funding scheme through kickbacks paid to him. Meanwhile Nzimande claims that this is all part of a politically motivated campaign against him.