South Africa’s debut on the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list will have a positive outcome, if government adheres to its recent statement that “addressing the action items will be in the interest of South Africa, and doing so is consistent with our existing commitment to rebuild the institutions
that were weakened during the period of state capture, the effectiveness of which is essential to addressing crime and corruption”.
The South African Police Service is seeking public feedback on the services it offers, through a survey. South African residents are encouraged to participate and share their honest views about the service.
New AI tools like ChatGPT could help make anti-corruption work more efficient, writes Harvard Law School’s Prof Matthew Stephenson. For instance, by allowing the redeployment of highly-educated human beings away from tasks like basic research and drafting boilerplate language, these people could be freed up to do tasks that will bring out all of their skills. This is just one possibility – but, Stephenson cautions, we should use the opportunity to ensure our own work is more creative and distinctive.
South African Police Service whistle-blower Patricia Mashale is in the process of petitioning Parliament for protection – but various hiccups along the way have delayed the application’s arrival at the Portfolio Committee on Police.
Across the world, activists working in many sectors risk their personal safety and often their lives to do their job of upholding human rights. A report published recently by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, titled Victimisation Experiences of Activists in South Africa, provides a grim insight into the risks that activists across a range of sectors face every day.
The sub-committee of the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration has published the shortlist of candidates to fill the vacancy of a commissioner in the Public Service Commission. The committee has shortlisted seven candidates,
The National Lottery Commission’s new board has introduced a number of measures to prevent corruption, writes Raymond Joseph for GroundUp, which has focused extensively on lottery corruption in recent years. These measures include the establishment of a new anti-corruption division, tand he appointment of three audit firms to investigate various aspects of fraud and corruption involving Lottery funds.
The catastrophic earthquake which recently devastated parts of Turkey and Syria was unavoidable, because the area is prone to earthquakes. What was avoidable, writes Transparency International board member Oya Özarslan, was the corruption, poor planning and building standards, lacklustre management, greed, and other factors which made the tragedy worse and resulted in many more people losing their lives.
The Special Investigating Unit has welcomed the conviction and sentencing of two former state employees for fraud and forgery committed during the Covid-19 state of disaster. The sentences, said the SIU, demonstrate that state institutions are acting on its investigation outcomes and implementing consequence management.