South Africa’s Auditor-General, with the corresponding office in the Seychelles, are the only two supreme audit institutions (SAIs) ranked by the World Bank as having the full independence to do their work. This was revealed in an assessment of 118 SAIs, the Supreme Audit Institutions Independence Index: 2021 Global Synthesis Report, released by the World Bank on 4 August 2021.
Sustaining momentum and accelerating the implementation of beneficial ownership disclosure will remain key in regional efforts to tackle corporate secrecy in Africa, write Maureen Kariuki, Karabo Rajuiliand, and Edwin Wuadom Warden for the Open Government Partnership. The continent’s efforts to mobilise its vast resources remain hamstrung by corporate anonymity, which facilitates illicit financial flows and the loss of billions of dollars every year.
On 12 August Corruption Watch will launch its latest research report into mining royalties. Titled Improving Transparency and Accountability in the Flow of Benefits to Mining Communities, the report aims to understand how best to intervene in shaping the financial and legal mechanisms used to funnel benefits to mining-affected communities.
In recent years the illegal perlemoen trade has overlapped with the increased flow of drugs such as methamphetamine (tik) and methaqualone (white pipe) into and methamphetamine to South Africa, with the former commodity being traded for the latter. Corruption plays a part in this, as does lax policing, poor regulation, and a huge demand for the marine delicacy from the Far East.
Corruption Watch has submitted comments on the Firearms Control Amendment Bill 2020, focusing on four issues: firearm ownership for self-defence, accountability in relation to firearm ownership, accountability of police and official institutions, and the Firearms Appeal Board. However, we cautioned that legislative amendments alone will not be effective in reducing violent crime, if we continue to have a weak, infiltrated, and ineffective policing service.
The Coalition on Party Funding, launched on 3 August 2021, comprises civil society organisations and activists, and is supported by the work of journalists. It aims to deepen democracy and hold leaders of political parties to account, with an initial focus on ensuring that the new Political Party Funding Act is implemented effectively and does what it purports. The coalition will also support the Independent Electoral Commission in its mandate to administer the PPFA, ensuring that the commission is adequately capacitated.
The KwaMhlanga Poultry Project, meant to benefit emerging farmers in the same way the ill-fated Vrede Dairy Project would have, is in tatters. Among other complaints, a group of people who did not qualify for inclusion but benefited because of their political influence and connections, have hijacked the project and ruined its prospects.
A mix of high unemployment, poverty and corruption exacerbated the suffering of vulnerable populations during lockdowns across Africa, write Linus Unah, Sally Hayden, Maurice Oniang’o and Patrick Egwu for
ished on Journalists for Transparency
In part 3 of our corruption in wildlife crime series, we discuss the convergence of wildlife crime and other crime, such as money laundering, drug or human trafficking, or fraud. Experts agree that to be effective, measures must include enhanced international co-operation, the involvement of all relevant enforcement agencies, the recognition of wildlife crime as a type of organised crime, and corruption and financial investigations to help recover the ill-gotten proceeds.