Posts

Global corruption snapshots: 30 Jan 2015

Bombardier Transportation accused of corruption in South Korea Bombardier Transportation was investigated in South Korea over corruption allegations but never charged, CBC's French-language service Radio-Canada has learned. A task force led by Korean prosecutors alleges that Bombardier, based in Quebec, offered gifts and trips to Canada for civil servants and politicians who decided to choose Read more >

New law to tighten public administration – part one

Our new three-part series takes a closer look at the newly enacted Public Administration Management Act. Part one introduces the legislation. In part two, read about reactions to the Act and in part three, we take a closer look at the state’s plans for its proposed integrity unit. In December President Jacob Zuma signed the Public Administration Management Read more >

Global corruption snapshots: 22 January 2015

Pressure grows on Fifa as secret FA documents made available to MPs A pressure group has called for a new Fifa reform commission to lead a fundamental overhaul of football’s scandal-hit world governing body. Speaking at the New Fifa Now summit in Brussels, the MP Damian Collins said the new commission should be overseen by Read more >

Dropped charges confirm Guptagate scapegoating

The South African National Defence Force’s recent withdrawing of charges against the two officers that it implicated in the investigation into the Gupta aircraft that landed at Waterkloof Air Force base in 2013 confirms that they were chosen as scapegoats, and that the charges were designed to deflect attention from President Zuma’s role in securing Read more >

ConCourt rules for DA in Nkandla SMS saga

The Constitutional Court has ruled in favour of the DA in the matter of a contentious SMS – in which it said that President Jacob Zuma stole taxpayers’ money to refurbish his Nkandla home – sent to Gauteng voters just before national elections in May last year. The SMS reads: “The Nkandla report shows how Read more >

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 >

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 and the wildlife trade

Veterinarian Mark Jones, currently programmes manager for wildlife at the UK’s Born Free Foundation, says that corruption is a huge threat to the safety of our fauna, as it facilitates the illegal trade in animal parts, especially sought-after items such as elephant ivory and rhino horns. This letter, written by him, was published in Daily Read more >

The good and bad news

By David Lewis (This article was first published in City Press) The recent Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index puts South Africa in 67th place out of the 175 countries surveyed. Those satisfied with mediocrity might think this is not too bad. People with this view must remember that our ranking dropped by about 30 places in Read more >