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.
In order to improve our services and support, as well as advocate for broader legislative reform, we as Corruption Watch are interested in the public’s perceptions about blowing the whistle in South Africa. Our anonymous survey seeks to understand your knowledge, perceptions and attitudes in this regard.
Electioneering shenanigans, ineffective laws and commissions of inquiry are familiar scenarios nowadays, but in this article Zachary Meskell, writing for the Global Anticorruption Blog, shows that as far back as the Roman Republic, authorities were wrestling with the same issues. Today’s lawmakers would do well to learn some of the lessons gleaned from the Roman experience, says Meskell.
The Independent Electoral Commission’s first published political party funding report reveals that out of over 500 registered parties, only three – the ANC, DA, and ActionSA – made declarations of qualifying donations received from donors. The total value of declared donations in the first quarter, according to the report, is just over R30-million.
Whistle-blower Jóhannes Stefánsson is looking forward to testifying in the corruption case he exposed – the Fishrot sage, involving Icelandic fishing company Samherji and various others, including government officials. Furthermore, Stefánsson says both Namibian and Icelandic Fishrot accused are trying to jeopardise and delay the fishing rights bribery scheme cases by lying to the court.
Despite the recommendation of former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke that local government elections be postponed to February 2022, the Constitutional Court has ordered that they must go ahead at the end of October this year, as originally planned. The Independent Electoral Commission had applied for the postponement primarily out of concern for public health and the current restrictions on political gatherings.
The North West provincial treasury is intervening in the performance of 14 of the province’s 22 municipalities, which have been identified as operating in conditions of severe financial crisis. The intervention will include budget management, contract management, municipal standard charts of accounts, and standards of generally recognised accounting practice.
The lack of accountability at all levels of legislatures, government, and oversight agencies is at the heart of persistent poor public services, financial mismanagement, and corruption in South Africa, writes governance specialist Prof William Gumede. It’s time, says Gumede, for the principle of ministerial responsibility to be enforced, where Cabinet ministers are held accountable for wrong decisions in their ministries, departments, and the SOEs reporting to them.