Karoo town speaks out on corruption

By Jennifer Cohen In the small Karoo village of Prince Albert, sitting quietly at the foot of the Swartberg mountains, Every Voice Matters.   Or so residents have come to believe. After a dream convinced her, Hélène Smit, director of Depth Leadership Trust, decided to engage people living there, asking them, “If your voice could Read more >

Corruption is also a crime, SAPS

Back in September 2012, when Corruption Watch had only been existence for a few months, the organisation expressed concerns over the lack of attention to fraud and corruption-related crimes in the annual crime statistics released by the ministry of police. There was simply no breakdown of information relating to these crimes, despite numerous warnings from Read more >

Arms Deal Commission must bring accountability

By Lee-Ann Alfreds Around 40 local and international organisations are calling for the Arms Procurement Commission to be scrapped as concerns over its credibility ratchet up. Corruption Watch, Lawyers for Human Rights, the Right2Know Campaign, Section27, Equal Education and the Treatment Action Campaign are among the organisations which have "lost faith" in the commission's ability to get to the bottom Read more >

Dear Mr President

Dear Mr President I first wrote to you in 2012 asking you to take responsibility for your allegedly corrupt actions. Since then there’s been Guptagate, Public Protector spats, employment opportunities for your family, and Nkandlagate. You have operated with impunity, shifting the blame and avoiding responsibility. I know this letter will cause many to think Read more >

Corruption: We’re gatvol

By Sipho Masondo First published in City Press Until it becomes “embarrassing to be caught with one’s hand in the cookie jar”, South Africa is never going to beat corruption. This is according to a Durban civil servant, who’s among the 70% of South Africans who don’t believe we’ll ever stop corruption, new research by Read more >

Can you be both loyal and honest?

By Janine Erasmus Part one of our series defined the practises of nepotism, cronyism, patronage and cadre deployment, and discussed their effect on the ethics culture generally. In the second and final part we deal with the dilemma of loyalty vs honesty, and explain why appointing unsuitable people can end up costing a lot of Read more >

It’s not what you know, but …

By Janine Erasmus Nepotism, cadre deployment, patronage, cronyism – we hear those terms often, but what do they mean, not just literally, but for South Africa? Why are these practices so harmful, especially in the public sector? Read our new two-part series to better understand the consequences of not employing the right person for the Read more >

Civil society asks for dissolution of arms commission

More than 30 local social justice organisations, including Corruption Watch, have issued a joint call for real arms deal accountability. Read their statement below: The 1999 arms deal represents up to R70-billion that should have been spent on housing, education, health and South Africa’s other pressing social needs. The arms deal corrupted our politics, weakened Read more >

Minions merely follow the leader

By Kabelo Sedupane The resignation of IEC chairperson Pansy Tlakula reveals that there are consequences to the flouting of procurement rules and unethical conduct – however, the question remains as to whether the unauthorised expenditure of public funds should necessitate further investigations and harsher sanctions. Within a culture of rampant abuse of public funds, the Read more >