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!
Activists and reformers should continue their efforts to make people take corruption more seriously, writes Brooke Davies, but, perhaps ironically, sometimes one of the best ways to do so is to make people laugh at it. If used appropriately, humour can be surprisingly effective in the fight against corruption.
If Africa is to develop and thrive according to its vast potential, one source of lost revenue has to be plugged, and that is the annual amount of around $50-billion stolen in the form of illicit financial flows. But efforts so far have not made much headway, and meanwhile unscrupulous corporations and individuals grow fat on Africa’s missing billions – money that should be benefiting the continent’s residents.
Without a consistently well-performing government, corruption-free with strong financial controls and integrity in the civil service, writes former human settlements spokesperson Yonela Diko, the governing party’s manifesto becomes a wish list to hoodwink people into voting for them and not a decree to live and die by. The party’s step aside resolution may help to remedy the situation.
Corruption, political instability, unskilled or unqualified appointees, mismanagement – there are some of the factors underscoring the continued poor performance of municipalities across the country, writes GGA’s Stuart Mbanyele. But local government elections place the power to change this lamentable situation in the hands of the people, giving them the chance to elect officials who will prioritise efficient local governance..
Corruption Watch and the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution have joined, as amici curiae, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s application to have Parliament’s removal rules declared invalid. The two organisations are supporting the inquiry into Mkhwebane’s fitness for office.
The Independent Electoral Commission has launched its mobilisation campaign for the upcoming 2021 local government elections, scheduled for 27 October under the theme Every Voice Together. The campaign aims to attract young people who are under-represented on the voters roll. And while the commission has been challenged by the current unprecedented conditions, and there are enormous ramifications to both postponing and proceeding with elections, it says it is technically ready to hold them.
The conditions in South Africa are ripe for alternatives to traditional processes of resolving cases of economic crime. Investigative and prosecuting agencies are under huge strain, and an option such as deferred prosecution agreements could relieve the backlog, while not letting perpetrators off the hook entirely..