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.
Transparency International chapters in several countries have been maliciously attacked following the release of the annual Corruption Perceptions Index two weeks ago. This is a standard tactic of the corrupt, who seek to turn the attention back onto those who expose their activities, thereby deflecting scrutiny away from themselves.
Organised crime is moving up the international agenda, writes Walter Kemp for GI-TOC, with people and governments alike becoming increasingly concerned about violence and instability associated with criminality. The time to act against these threats is now – a strategic and global response is urgently needed.
Traditionally, corruption gets short shrift in the annual State of the Nation address. It is time that President Cyril Ramaphosa moves the topic much higher up the page, writes Corruption Watch executive director Karam Singh, and tells the nation exactly how the government is going to build capable institutions and place the fight against corruption front and centre on its agenda.
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.