DEAR CORRUPTION WATCH

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 >

CORRUPTION NEWS

What can you get for R70-billion?

The total amount of public money involved was US$4.8-billion, or R30-billion at the exchange rate of the day. However, this figure does not take into account the costs of financing the deal, which, when added in, bring the total to around R70-billion. The acquisitions were meant to modernise the South African National Defence Force’s existing Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

No place for cheaters in schools

Hot on the heels of a matric group cheating scandal that clouded this year’s exam results announcement by basic education minister Angie Motshekga, a new scandal has emerged, alleging pupils in a North West school paid R800 bribes to teachers in exchange for passes. While an investigation by the provincial education department is pending, Corruption Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

No more secret party funding, says MVC

My Vote Counts (MVC) is an organisation campaigning to improve the accountability, transparency and inclusiveness of elections and politics in South Africa, so that all of its citizens will have a stronger voice. MVC is advocating for two key changes for accountability and openness:   *  For the South African electoral system to be changed so Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Hawks saga – feathers continue to fly

Suspensions; notices of suspension; court battles; and speculation over political interference. These are some of the scenarios that have preoccupied the leadership of the priority crime fighting unit, the Hawks, over the past few weeks. Political and social analysts are even more fascinated – they're crying foul over what they perceive as a strategic purge Read more >

CORRUPTION SNAPSHOTS

Global corruption snapshots: 15 January 2015

Wikileaks for Africa? Introducing Afrileaks A new service launched on 13 January hopes to safely connect whistle-blowers with investigative journalists, encouraging a ‘new culture of accountability and justice’ across the African continent. It’s the first of its kind to provide ongoing technical training in how to “verify and investigate the quality of leaks”. (The Guardian). Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

CW reporter profile relatively unchanged

Towards the end of 2014 Corruption Watch (CW) conducted a survey of its reporters, as it has done in 2012 and 2013 too. The study was commissioned to assess reporters’ understanding of CW’s work, the overall success of CW’s campaigns in South Africa, and reporters’ experiences in reporting an incident. The aim of these CW Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Make your mark in 2015 by supporting a good cause!

Citizen activism organisation Lead SA constantly encourages South Africans to stand up and become leaders, for the sake of their families, communities and country. An act of leadership, says the organisation, could be “as simple as making a stranger smile or as big as fighting to further the rights entrenched in our Constitution. Each act Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

SA among top developing countries with illicit outflows

As a national chapter-in-formation of global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI), Corruption Watch is actively involved in TI’s campaign Unmask the Corrupt, which aims to stop perpetrators of corruption from hiding their ill-gotten gains in companies that operate in secret or with opaque corporate ownership structures, or by laundering the proceeds into luxury goods or offshore Read more >