Open letter to G20 finance ministers from civil society

From Amnesty International, CIVICUS and Transparency International 13 October 2020 Dear G20 finance ministers, As you meet this week, we are writing to you to encourage you to take concrete actions in order to build a better future through a just recovery by investing in people and ensuring that funds being made available reach those Read more >

SA falling behind in action against foreign bribery

In 2018 Transparency International released a further edition of its Exporting Corruption survey, a progress report which rates countries based on their enforcement against foreign bribery under the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. The OECD convention requires signatory countries to criminalise bribery of foreign public officials and introduce related measures.  That report highlighted South Africa’s failure to Read more >

0800 111 969 – the new ipid toll-free hotline number

Police minister Bheki Cele, with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate’s (Ipid) executive director Jennifer Ntlatseng, has launched a new Ipid toll-free number that aims to centralise the directorate’s communication system, to ensure that all South African residents have maximum and free access to its service. The public can now lodge complaints on 0800 111 969, country-wide. Read more >

CW urges diligence with upcoming lotteries appointments

Corruption Watch (CW) has written to the minister of trade and industry, Ebrahim Patel,  and the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry on the upcoming appointments to the National Lotteries Commission (NLC). The NLC has been in the news frequently of late, for all the wrong reasons – opacity, nepotism, misuse of funds, corruption. Patel Read more >

Less-lethal police weapons, when abused, are deadly too

Members of the South African Police Service. Photo: GroundUp.org.za. Rubber bullets, tear gas, water cannons, or stun grenades – these are some of the less-lethal weapons police in South Africa use to manage large crowds during unruly protest action. Their colleagues around the world do the same. However, while these weapons are touted as less-lethal, Read more >

CW urges DMR minister to act on corruption allegations

By Thato Mahlangu Image: Flickr/GovernmentZA Pleas from some aggrieved mining-affected community members to the minister of the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), Gwede Mantashe, are said to have fallen on deaf ears as nothing has been done to address their issues. The department is also accused of withholding for over a year a report that Read more >

Covid millions lost to greed, carelessness, and mismanagement

At the beginning of September the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) released its first special report on the management of funds set aside for government’s Covid-19 response. The fiscal relief package was funded reprioritising the 2020-21 budgets and by securing loans. Although, regrettably, the nation fully expected gross misuse and irregularities, the sheer scale of Read more >