The votes are in, they have been tallied, and we are ready to announce the hero and zero of the year for 2014.
With 46% of the votes, our heroes are the three arms deal critics – Andrew Feinstein, Paul Holden and Andrew van Vuuren – who withdrew from the Arms Deal Commission in protest against unfair and unproductive actions on the commission’s part.
Second was Cogta minister Pravin Gordhan, who scooped 25% of the votes.
On the zero side, with 57% of the votes, our runaway winner is Eskom. The power utility was on the list for spending millions and millions on labour consultants, but we do suspect that the frequent blackouts across the country of late did influence the voting!
In second place was the SABC, quite far behind on 17% of the votes.
The Corruption Watch zero of the year for 2012 and 2013 was our country’s first citizen, President Jacob Zuma. The hero award for 2012 and 2013 went to the lady who continues to fearlessly pursue corrupt senior officials in his administration, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela.
Because Zuma and Madonsela have each won two years in a row, we felt that there was every likelihood they would win again, and so to make it fair for our other heroes and zeroes, we have opened our Hall of Fame, where multiple winners will be able to show off their awards for posterity.
As in the two years before, Corruption Watch asked supporters to vote from a selection of eight contenders for each award. Our thanks to everyone who participated!
