CORRUPTION NEWS

Corruption and the law in South Africa – part one

Corruption is not a problem unique to South Africa, but it is one of the country’s major challenges. In our new three-part series we will examine the international conventions, local legislation, and other channels that should be helping our country get to grips with the problem. Part one introduces the international anti-corruption conventions which inform Read more >

DEAR CORRUPTION WATCH

Ways to avoid Christmas hiccups

Dear Corruption Watch, Friends of mine recently had their vehicle stopped at night by police officials. Their children were in the back seat. The police officials threatened to arrest my friends for drunk driving although they were perfectly sober. They felt that their car had been selected for intimidation because the police knew they wouldn’t Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Disclosure of information at all-time low

Around the same time that the International Day to End Impunity was commemorated, the PAIA Civil Society Network (PAIA CSN) released its annual shadow report on compliance with the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) (2 of 2002). The CSN is a group of organisations and individuals working to advance the right of access to information, and achieve a culture of Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Protector of the people’s interests

The public protector, Thuli Madonsela, is tough, fearless and respected. She takes her office very seriously and is determined to carry out her mandate to the best of her ability – a stance that sometimes sees her going head to head with government figures. Madonsela and government ministers were recently involved in a highly publicised Read more >

PRESS RELEASES

Office of the public protector must be respected

The Corruption Watch board calls for respect of the office of the public protector in carrying out its Constitutionally-mandated duties. The board has issued a press statement, which is reproduced in full below: The Corruption Watch board has noted the on-going tensions between the public protector and Cabinet ministers regarding her report on the upgrade Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

National school feeding scheme – part three

By Valencia Talane The national school nutrition programme (NSNP) was launched around 19 years ago. It’s one way of ensuring that children who come from poor families have a healthy balanced meal on a daily basis. Because parents have entrusted the Department of Basic Education (DBE) with the safety and wellbeing of their children, they have not Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

National school nutrition programme – part two

​By Valencia Talane In part one of our series we shed some light, based on tip-offs submitted to us, on the ways in which the national school nutrition programme can be manipulated for personal gain. We turn now to explaining the rules and regulations behind the NSNP, and how it should be run. The NSNP, Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

National school nutrition programme – part one

By Valencia Talane A price of R22 for a loaf of bread would come as a surprise to the average South African consumer, even with the consistent rise in food prices over the past few years. It came as an even bigger surprise to a whistle-blower who alleged in a report to Corruption Watch that Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

How does schools procurement work?

By Lee-Ann Collingridge With much corruption at schools related to the buying of goods and services – commonly known as procurement – the government expends a lot of effort trying to manage the process. This has resulted in provincial education departments regularly issuing regulations to manage procurement by schools. How it’s done at no-fees schools Read more >