Corruption adds an extra, unwanted challenge to the list of those already facing South African youth, writes Mzwandile Banjathwa, Corruption Watch project coordinator. Unemployment is one of the biggest concerns, but when the very agencies that are tasked with helping young people gain skills and find opportunities are themselves plagued by corruption, what then?
Despite unending promises of rooting out and dealing with corruption, the disturbing trend in the governing party continues unabated. The release of the long-awaited report into the Digital Vibes tender scandal highlights the extent of just one corrupt network and emphasises the importance of transparency and access to information. Meanwhile, the nation waits for meaningful consequences for the perpetrators.
Corruption Watch has prepared a pocket guide to understanding local government, and we urge you to download it, read it, and share it ahead of the local government elections on i November. You have the right to demand a high standard from your local government!
Corruption Watch, like many other organisations and individuals, relies on access to information to carry out its mandate. Today, on International Day for Universal Access to Information, we reflect on the importance of access to reliable information, and how lack of such access can impede the development of a culture of transparency and accountability.
As the Covid-19 pandemic mounts, writes Tim Hanstad for the World Economic Forum, we must build a coalition of civil society, business leaders, dedicated government officials and funders to strengthen government accountability and effectiveness and change the trajectory of this pandemic and our futures. Businesses should join civil society’s call for greater accountability from governments because they too must live with the consequences should governments fail.
The fifth instalment of Corruption Watch’s Analysis of Corruption Trends report, released today, shows that police-related allegations continue to top the list of sectoral reports received by the organisation. Corruption within law enforcement is so widespread that ordinary citizens are often forced to partake in corrupt activities or suffer a penalty. Corruption relating to schools, housing, and Covid-19 are also prevalent in our whistle-blowers’ complaints.
Almost 2 000 whistle-blowers reported acts of public and private sector corruption to Corruption Watch in the first six months of 2021. This, and details of those hotspots of corruption, are revealed in the organisation’s 2021 Analysis of Corruption Trends report, released today.
Respondents in a new Afrobarometer survey on corruption believe that high percentages of elected officials and civil servants are involved in corrupt activities, and that the South African Police Service is the most corrupt of all. Furthermore, South Africans remain fearful of reprisals should they expose corruption.
The Constitutional Court on 17 September dismissed the application by former president Jacob Zuma to rescind its 29 June judgment which found him guilty of contempt of court. Zuma had based his argument on two grounds – that the order was made in the party’s absence and that an error was made by the court that granted it – neither of which found favour with the justices. Zuma was ordered to pay the commission’s legal costs.