RAISING AWARENESS

Why we focus on public resources

​Dear Corruption Watch, I've reported corruption on your website – things going on in the body corporate where I live, and evidence to show improper payments billed to me for construction work – but you've replied that your focus is on the misuse of public resources or power. Why such a narrow focus? Private Matter Dear Private Matter, Read more >

DEAR CORRUPTION WATCH

Protection for media sources

Dear Corruption Watch, I live in an area where corruption is rife. The police are indifferent at best, and often complicit. There seems to be nowhere else to go but the newspapers, so I wonder: what would happen to me – would I be named, or need to testify – if a newspaper report led Read more >

DEAR CORRUPTION WATCH

Cleanup of govt procurement slow but steady

Dear Corruption Watch, I run a small business involved in the construction industry. It’s very difficult to find out about government tenders, but more difficult still to follow the process through to the end. My understanding was the government was meant to review its procurement practices to make it easier for businesses like mine to Read more >

DEAR CORRUPTION WATCH

SONA wishlist – better implementation and enforcement of anti-corruption measures

Dear Corruption Watch, When the president delivers the State of the Nation address in Parliament, what would you like to see on his legislative agenda in respect of anti-corruption programmes? Yours, Policy Wonk Dear Mr Wonk South Africa has excellent anti-corruption legislation. The Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act (Precca) criminalises the full range of Read more >

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New graft-busting unit unlikely to halt state scams

Dear Corruption Watch I see the president signed the Public Administration Management Act in December, establishing yet another anti-corruption agency. What contribution is this intended to make to combating corruption? Does this not duplicate existing anti-corruption agencies? Unconvinced Dear Unconvinced, The Public Administration Management Act created a gamut of new institutions that are intended to Read more >

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Slippery slope in the making?

Dear Corruption Watch Just before last year's election, the National Assembly was debating a bill to allow line ministers, rather than Parliament, to set salaries, allowances and conditions of service for chapter nine institutions. Surely these institutions, independent and established by the constitution, should never be accountable to political appointees? It is through the instruments Read more >

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Driving out the dodgy officials

Dear Corruption Watch, I run a small driving school but am being driven out of business by corrupt competitors. These driving instructors team up with the examiners at the testing centre and share the proceeds of bribes. They even have special signals and vocabulary, such as turning the rear-view mirror around, used to indicate which Read more >

DEAR CORRUPTION WATCH

Sex for marks a criminal act

Dear Corruption Watch My daughter's best friend's teacher wants her to perform a sexual favour in exchange for good marks. She is terrified both of "paying the bribe" and telling her parents or the headmaster about this abuse of power. What are her rights and what recourse does she have to fight this vile corruption? Outraged Read more >

DEAR CORRUPTION WATCH

Private sector is not untainted

Dear Corruption Watch, I understand that when a private citizen or firm bribes a public official to secure a contract, both are involved in corrupt conduct and are subject to the anti-corruption act. But what if a private sector supplier bribes a procurement officer in a private firm? And can conduct that only involves private Read more >