HEROES & ZEROES

Hero and Zero for 2014

It’s that time of the year when we look back on the individuals, organisations, and institutions who frustrated us, made us weep and gnash our teeth, made us throw up our hands, but also impressed us, gave us hope, and inspired us. Yes, it’s Hero and Zero of the Year time. Last year it was Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Vote for your hero and zero of the year!

It’s that time of the year when we look back on the individuals, organisations, and institutions who frustrated us, made us weep and gnash our teeth, made us throw up our hands, but also impressed us, gave us hope, and inspired us. Yes, it’s Hero and Zero of the Year time. Last year it was Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Shocking waste of taxpayers’ money

Our zero this week is embattled power utility Eskom. Media reports last week claim that over the past five years, Eskom has spent a billion rand of taxpayers’ money on labour consultants. Furthermore, say the newspaper reports, court documents reveal that the consultancy, Khum-BIE, made Eskom pay double for the services of three contractors, who Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Eating away at public funds

Last month finance minister Nhlanhla Nene tabled his first mid-term budget report in Parliament. Like his predecessor Pravin Gordhan, he asked for departments to take measures to cut down on spending. But his words have not been heeded by all. A report in the Times reveals that the Mpumalanga legislature is not about to allow Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Justice for Lawrence Moepi

The murderers of Lawrence Moepi learnt on Thursday that they would spend the rest of their lives in jail for their crime, just over a year after they brutally shot the forensic auditor at his workplace in Johannesburg. Mpho Nkosi and Remember Siphoro were also denied leave to appeal by the South Gauteng High Court Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Gautrain acts against would-be crook

Good on management of the Gautrain, Gauteng’s multi-billion-rand rapid rail system! Following the arrest of a former employee on Wednesday for alleged fraud and corruption involving its financial system, the company declared that it will in future conduct more stringent vetting of staff. The Gautrain Management Agency (GMA), together with the Hawks, are our heroes Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Cape cops busted, charged with corruption

Our hero this week is the SAPS for clamping down on more suspected corruption at police stations in the Western Cape. This time they have arrested a group of officers who are accused of selling confiscated drugs, stealing evidence and accepting bribes – and there’s possibly more to come. The suspects all worked at the Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Seriti Commission given five more months

Judge Willie Seriti has been given another five months in which to finish investigating bribery, corruption and other acts of impropriety which might have happened during the acquisition of prime mission equipment for two arms of the South African National Defence Force in 1999. President Jacob Zuma said in a statement released last Friday that, Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Bribery doesn’t always pay

Our hero this week is the state for successfully securing the conviction and imprisonment of a police officer for accepting bribes related to drug use. The state sometimes gets it wrong, but this time it got it right. The police constable, Ricardo Abrahams, had been under scrutiny after a complaint that police at the Grassy Read more >