Posts

Growing WC extortion economy threatens the whole country

In November 2023 we reported on a new project by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), which would monitor crime activity in the Western Cape (WC) province, which struggles with crime like many other areas in the country. The first issue of the Western Cape Gang Monitor, released in October, was based on Read more >

Poor policies, complicit police deepen SA’s drug problem

By Thato Mahlangu Part one of our mini-series on the UN’s World Drug Report 2020 looked at some of the report’s key findings. In the second and final part, we cover the situation in South Africa at the moment. The situation is serious, and it’s not getting better. According to anti-crime organisation Enact, the local Read more >

Inaction and weak policies boost the illicit drug market

By Thato Mahlangu Drug markets have been reported to be increasing, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. This grim but unsurprising information is one of the findings of the UN’s World Drug Report which was released on 25 June 2020. The report reveals how some governments are failing to clamp down on the illicit trade of Read more >

Imposter charged with extortion, impersonation

By Thato Mahlangu Investigations into bribery allegations at a Pretoria driving licence testing centre led to the arrest of a police imposter who had been taking bribes from motorists. A joint operation by members of the South African Police Service’s (Saps) Gauteng anti-corruption unit and National Traffic Anti-Corruption Unit (NTACU) led to the arrest of Read more >

Police corruption an ongoing problem

By Thato Mahlangu Months after the new report by Corruption Watch (CW) was released, highlighting the alarming number of corrupt police officials, little has been done to curb crime within the police, whistle-blowers claim. Since the organisation’s inception in 2012, some 1 400 members of the public have felt concerned enough to share their experiences Read more >

How to keep humanitarian aid out of corrupt hands

Earthquakes and hurricanes devastating parts of Mexico and the Caribbean; flooding in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan affecting more than 41-million people; refugee crises in Syria and Myanmar; protracted crises in Afghanistan, Chad and the Central African Republic; and more than 20-million people facing starvation and famine across Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen in Read more >

Widespread corruption at Home Affairs shown in CW report

22 November 2016 Corruption at the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), according to a new report, Project Lokisa: Asylum at a Price, released by Corruption Watch today, is now so endemic that only a concerted effort by multiple stakeholders can hope to curb it. The DHA has failed to respond to any of the attempts Read more >

Corrupt Mpuma cops’ days are numbered

South Africans are used to encountering corruption in various aspects of their life, but it’s worse when the problem extends to visitors to the country. For instance, it’s worrying and embarrassing to find advice on how to approach corrupt South African traffic officers on international travel organisations such as TripAdvisor. Over the last few years Read more >