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CORRUPTION NEWS

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 >

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 >

RAISING AWARENESS

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 >

CORRUPTION NEWS

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 >

RAISING AWARENESS

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 >