HEROES & ZEROES

Joburg takes the lead

The City of Johannesburg has fingered 30 businesses alleged to have fleeced the municipality of R200-million worth of potential power revenue. For their part in this exercise of the government catching out the private sector for dubious acts and exposing its corruption, the City is our hero of the week. As many as 22 people Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Gabriella Razzano: evangelist for openness

By Valencia Talane A transparent system of government that encourages access to information for its citizens as well as freedom of expression, while protecting those who question its decisions and motives, may be an unrealistic concept for many. For the team of activists at the Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC), however, it is the proverbial Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Good and bad of audit reports

  By Valencia Talane Depending on which way you look at it, the municipal audit report for the 2012/13 financial year offers either a positive or a miserable outlook for South Africa's local government landscape. The report was published last week by the auditor-general, Kimi Makwetu. As Pravin Gordhan, the minister in charge of local Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Strengthening prosecutorial accountability in SA

As gatekeepers to the criminal justice system, prosecutors are its most powerful officials. Prosecutors’ considerable discretion – about whom to charge and for which crimes – affects the lives and fate of thousands of criminal suspects, and the safety and security of all citizens. Yet, in South Africa, no dedicated oversight and accountability mechanism scrutinises Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Prison corruption taking us backwards

By Janine Erasmus That there is corruption in South African prisons is no secret – but the actual extent of it might never be known for sure. A few recent incidents taken up in the media give us a hint – issues at Leeuhof Prison, in Vereeniging, Gauteng, which were revealed in June, were just Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Arms deal: seven facts that aren’t going away

Source: Anine Kriegler, Right2Know A recurring line from those trying to dismiss allegations of corruption in the arms deal is: “Show us the evidence.” During his testimony at the Seriti Commission two weeks ago, former president Mbeki took an opportunity to lash out at critics, saying: “For all of these years we have been saying, let Read more >

DEAR CORRUPTION WATCH

It’s hard to defame a South African politician

Dear Corruption Watch, Businessman Hugh Glenister’s Constitutional Court appeal calls President Jacob Zuma a “corrupt crook” and his government “extremely corrupt”. The president, in turn, calls this defamatory. Can you please explain the law of defamation? When does name-calling become illegal? What recourse do people have and are different standards applied to senior public officials? Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

State makes the right moves

With the announcement of a revised code of ethics for members of parliament and proclamations for corruption investigations by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) by President Jacob Zuma – both of which were made this week – the leadership of the South African government made a good showing in steps to curb and unearth corruption Read more >

RAISING AWARENESS

Nicky Rehbock: our woman in Berlin

Valencia Talane Many young people from around the world gathered in Brazil in November 2012 for the Transparency International (TI) annual anti-corruption conference. One of those was Nicky Rehbock, who was the editor of the Corruption Watch website at the time. She was so moved by the work of the global organisation – and particularly Read more >