Blog posts

Public service without accountability is a betrayal of democracy

Image: Vuk’uzenzele By Duduzile Zwane – CW Voices Every South African knows the situation. The clinic that never answers. The municipality that never fixes. The government office that treats citizens as interruptions rather than the very reason it exists. We complain about these experiences so often that they have become normal, and perhaps that is Read more >

Human rights provision fails when corruption is present

By Janine Erasmus South Africa, as it does every year, observed Human Rights Day on 21 March under the month-long theme of A Legacy of Courage: Protecting Rights, Preserving Humanity. In his address on the day, President Cyril Ramaphosa surprised nobody when he said corruption was one of the biggest obstacles and challenges to improving Read more >

Urgently needed: meaningful citizen involvement in fight against corruption

By Janine Erasmus – CW Voices Events highlighted in South Africa’s news cycle in the last three months or so have exposed our country’s deep-rooted challenges with corruption, organised crime, and the haunting lack of protection for whistle-blowers who expose criminal activity. From the revelations of alleged criminal syndicate infiltration into our policing system – Read more >

Hani’s warning came true: Liberators became elitists, but hope remains

First published on News24 By Marianne Camerer – CW Voices It felt like a historic event. On the last Friday morning of August, in the windowless conference room of the Premier Airport Hotel in Johannesburg, anti-corruption advocates in South Africa gathered to witness the close-out event of the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council (NACAC). After a Read more >

There’s more to anti-corruption speak than just words

By Moepeng Valencia Talane – CW Voices There is something worrying and unnervingly consistent in the messaging around corruption by members of the executive in South Africa’s government, mostly because of the tone that is set and the words that are used. Yes, it’s important to reflect truthfully and call a spade a spade when Read more >

Youth empowerment is key in corruption fight

By Moepeng Valencia Talane – CW Voices Corruption Watch’s Strengthening Action Against Corruption (SAAC) project – which we launched in 2024 in partnership with the Social Change Assistance Trust and Transparency International, with the intention of awakening a sense of community and ownership in the fight against corruption – is gaining steady, and healthy, momentum. Read more >

Seventh parliament:  are these the legislators we deserve?

By Moepeng Talane South Africa’s electorate may have taken decisive action in the 29 May polls to help discontinue the one-party rule era that we have seen since the dawn of democracy, but a whole month later, the official announcement on who will lead in the Cabinet of the government of national unity is yet Read more >

Whistle-blowers take centre stage on WWBD

By Janine Erasmus World Press Freedom Day (WPFD), marked every year on 3 May, is a day of both reflection and reminders – the former giving media professionals a chance to think about issues of press freedom and professional ethics, and the latter prompting governments to respect their commitment to press freedom. But WPFD is Read more >