Devise a tough plan against corruption

Consider the following example: A convoy of five trucks of Company A leaves South Africa with heavy construction machinery, to be delivered in northern Mozambique. The truck drivers are provided by Company B. At a remote border post between Zimbabwe and Mozambique, a Mozambican customs official demands $1,000 from the leader of the convoy because Read more >

National Council of Provinces passes Secrecy Bill

The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Thursday passed the Protection of State Information Bill – or Secrecy Bill – in parliament. The results were 34 votes in favour of the bill, 16 against. No one abstained. The debate preceding the vote was opened by State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, who said that South Africans Read more >

‘Government under attack from its own people’

The government sector across the continent got the heaviest beating in KPMG’s recently released Africa Fraud Barometer, developed to provide a bigger picture of fraud prevalence on the continent. According to the tool, reported cases of fraud decreased from 520 in the second half of 2011 to 503 cases in the first half of 2012, Read more >

New guide to boost whistleblowing at work

The fight against corruption relies heavily on employees being vigilant and standing up for their rights, but these employees need support – especially when their disclosure could make them vulnerable to discrimination or victimisation. A solution comes in the form of a recently produced manual by the Open Democracy Advice Centre (Odac), which advises shop Read more >

These are your stories

Corruption Watch receives, on average, 100 reports of corruption a month and more than three reports per day. These are logged through our incident reporter form on our website, or by SMS, email, post, fax, social media or landline calls. From now on we’ll be bringing you a snapshot of some of the corruption reports Read more >

Gauteng finances in good hands

Today is International Day to End Impunity, prompting Corruption Watch to give the title of Hero of the Week to Gauteng Finance Minister Mandla Nkomfe for prioritising corruption busting in local government.   “Through the diligent work of employees and the public, the Gauteng provincial government has unearthed over 150 cases of alleged fraud and Read more >

The sickness in E Cape health department

At a glance, Nomaxabiso Ngxoli* is the happiest professional nurse in South Africa – after she netted a R2.68-million fortune through her employer, the Eastern Cape department of health. But taking a closer look, Ngxoli may suffer the consequences of enriching herself through flouting government policies. This has been revealed in documents that are part Read more >

Education crisis: a forgotten Bethal school

“What is that we are facing? Why are we restless and at times seeming very angry and frustrated?” A few months ago in Witbank, Mpumalanga, Zwelinzima Vavi, the Cosatu secretary-general, asked these uncomfortable questions of his union members. He was referring to “the crisis in education, the declining quality of education and that the poor’s Read more >

The long and patient arm of the law

  One David, screenwriter, essayist and Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet once said: “Many remark justice is blind; pity those in her sway, shocked to discover she is also deaf.”   Another David, former South African politician and soon to be jailbird David Malatsi may have realised only this week that his namesake was correct Read more >