Feinstein, Van Vuuren to brief media

The Seriti Commission, formally known as the Arms Procurement Commission, is currently in session in Pretoria. The commission is probing allegations of widespread and far-reaching corruption that have plagued the controversial deal almost from day one. Authors Andrew Feinstein and Hennie van Vuuren, represented by Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), are scheduled to brief the Read more >

Not perfect, but commission can still produce results

By Lee-Ann Alfreds His appearance was greeted with fanfare and excitement after months of dry and technical testimony by largely-unknown flunkies and officials. But then, former trade and industry minister Alec Erwin came and went in the blink of an eye – and fears for the credibility of the Arms Procurement Commission went into overdrive. Read more >

The arms deal – analysis and updates

The first phase of the two-man Arms Procurement Commission, or the Seriti Commission, started on 20 January and was meant to wrap up in May with the testimony of  former president Thabo Mbeki, but his appearance was postponed because of his mother’s death. Phase two of the commission started on 21 July. Under the guidance Read more >

Chief procurement officer makes progress

By Valencia Talane Finance minister Pravin Gordhan’s national budget speech, delivered on Wednesday afternoon, was a display of good news in terms of government efforts to improve the country’s fiscus over the years as well as firm warnings towards those who do business in a dishonest way.   On government spending in particular – an Read more >

New e-book focuses on procurement corruption

Corruption in government procurement processes is a major concern amongst South Africans, as it results in billions of rands of the national budget going down the drain. Many citizens have decided to do something about it – between our launch in January 2012 to the end of January 2014, we have received 465 reports related Read more >

No action against fraudster

By Valencia Talane His boss may have told South Africa that he is not going anywhere, but public protector Thuli Madonsela found acting SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng guilty of fraud for lying about his qualifications in his CV. SABC board chair Ellen Tshabalala told the media at a press briefing on Thursday that Read more >

Fighting the good fight

By Lee-Ann Alfreds Their breadth of recall is mind-boggling. Dates, figures, names and irregularities that several official investigations have tried – unsuccessfully – to unravel for over 15 years, these are the details that arms deal activist Terry Crawford-Browne and whistleblower Richard Young readily have at their fingertips. It’s not surprising, though, as both have Read more >

Business must get actively involved in nailing corruption

by David Lewis Corruption is "literally killing us". This was the view of a panellist at a recent Corruption Watch colloquium on business’s role in combating corruption, held at the Gordon Institute of Business Science. "Service delivery protests are a direct consequence of the public resources squandered by corruption," said Mark Lamberti, chairman of Transaction Read more >

Economic crime plagues local business

As a nation, South Africa has many attractive features – and a few undesirable ones too. A fresh survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) reveals a few of the latter – bribery and corruption, procurement fraud, cybercrime, insider trading, and more. Titled the 2014 Global Economic Crime Survey, it unpacks economic crime in the country, and was Read more >