At a meeting yesterday, the parliamentary standing committee on public accounts raised the valid question of why National Treasury is quick to bail out the ailing South African Airways to the tune of billions, but seemingly does not attach the same importance to the funding of vital law enforcement agencies such as the National Prosecuting Authority and the Hawks.
From paying contractors for work they never did, to using Covid-19 relief funds to buy a car for the mayor, at least 43 municipalities are guilty of misuse of the funds they received to help their constituents fight the pandemic. This was revealed in the Auditor-General’s third special audit report on Covid funds, released on 30 June.
The Constitutional Court handed down a comprehensive ruling on the matter between President Cyril Ramaphosa and Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane on Thursday. In an investigation, Mhkwebane found in 2019 that Ramaphosa wilfully misled Parliament about a R500 000 donation, to his CR17 campaign for ANC president, from Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson – but the court held otherwise, ruling in Ramaphosa’s favour.
Today’s Constitutional Court judgment finding former president Jacob Zuma in contempt of court and sentencing him to 15 months behind bars, is momentous as it upholds the fundamental constitutional principle that all are equal before the law. It will act as a substantial deterrent to those who have thought nothing of making scurrilous and contemptuous statements about the Constitutional Court and the judiciary in general.
“No person is above the law,” the Constitutional Court noted in its judgment on former president Jacob Zuma today, and indeed Zuma has been found to be in contempt of court for his wilful and continued defiance of the court and Zondo commission into state capture. As a result, he must present himself to either the Nkandla or the Johannesburg central police stations by this weekend in order to be delivered to a correctional centre where he will start serving a 15-month jail sentence..
Corruption is a well-known enabler of wildlife, forest and fisheries crime, present at every stage of the trafficking supply chain. In this new mini-series we take a look at the global situation from various angles. We will present an overview in part 1, explore the link between wildlife crime and corruption in part 2, the link between wildlife crime and other crime in part 3, and in part 4 we will highlight a recently released case study on perlemoen, or abalone, smuggling. In the final part 5, we will focus on the money laundering methods and routes used to spirit away the proceeds of these crimes.
A new initiative by the Clooney Foundation for Justice – through its strategic partner The Sentry in partnership with financial data provider Refinitiv – aims to identify and track dirty money related to the African continent’s war criminals. This information will be shared around the world, effectively locking them out of the global financial system by alerting companies and banks that might unknowingly interact with them or their money.
On this World Whistle-blower Day, 23 June, we reflect once again on the lack of a safe and supportive environment for our reporters of corruption. Many more people would come forward to expose wrongdoing if they trusted that the system that is supposed to protect them, will actually do so.
Holding police accountable for wrongdoing is essential, especially in South Africa where the police force has established a regime of corruption and abuse in its own operations and in dealing with those it has vowed to protect. A group of civil society organisations has just released a comprehensive new factsheet, which helps people to understand police powers, their rights when they encounter police, and their options for reporting abuses of power by the South African Police Service. Download it and share it!