STATE CAPTURE

CW report further underscores need for public procurement reform

Image by Freepik Corruption Watch’s recent Procurement Risk Trends 2023 report records the alarming rate at which state organs use the practice of deviations and contract expansions in public procurement, and not always for good purposes. While it clarifies that there may be perfectly valid reasons for deviating from a prescribed procurement procedure or for Read more >

STATE CAPTURE

Time for corporate SA to step up and join the fight against corruption

South Africa’s corporate sector is no angel when it comes to corruption. Numerous businesses were deeply implicated in the state capture era, and high-profile scandals like those of Steinhoff, EOH, VBS Bank, Bosasa, and Tongaat Hulett have severely tarnished the collective corporate reputation. The enablers of corporate corruption, such as legal and audit firms, have Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

GIJC23: SA among Global Shining Light Awards winners

This article first appeared on the Global Investigative Journalism Network website By Rowan Philp Stories on illegal mining in Venezuela, systemic banditry in northwestern Nigeria, police brutality in South Africa, and COVID-19 profiteering in North Macedonia won Global Shining Light Awards (GSLA) at the 13th Global Investigative Journalism Conference (#GIJC23). The prize honours watchdog journalism in developing Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Gordhan proposes biggest shake-up of SOCs since the 1990s

This article first appeared on News24 By Carol Paton The National State Enterprises Bill, which will dramatically shake up the governance of state-owned companies (SOCs) and envisages them moving from line departments to a newly created state asset management company, was published for comment last Friday. It will also see the end of the government’s Read more >

GOVERNANCE

Latest CW report tracks procurement risk trends

Corruption Watch (CW), working with procurement law expert Professor Geo Quinot of Stellenbosch University, released Procurement Risk Trends 2023, the third such report, following the first two that were published in 2021 and 2022, respectively. These reports, which cover the period between 2016 and 2023, specifically focus on trends in public procurement deviations and contract expansions. Read more >

CAMPAIGNS

Fine qualifications alone do not a public protector make

The unprecedented removal of Busisiwe Mkhwebane as public protector highlights the importance of selecting the right person for a job – especially one of such importance – through a rigorous process that disregards party or cadre issues and focuses solely on merit and suitability. Never before has a South African public protector been removed from Read more >

CAMPAIGNS

Community, collaboration make for better public institutions

Ten years ago Corruption Watch ran an investigation into the dire conditions at Macosa Junior Secondary School in the Mqanduli area of the Eastern Cape. The school had no furniture for its 500 or so learners, no proper ablutions, and the walls had not been painted in years. Those learners who had a place to Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

SA-France partnership will enhance local and regional anti-cyber-crime skills

By Kwazi Dlamini The South African government recently entered a partnership with the government of France to combat corruption, cyber-crime and to improve the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) cyber forensic division. South Africa justice and correctional services minster Ronald Lamola put pen to paper along with Catherine Colonna, the French foreign affairs minister signed a Read more >