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GOVERNANCE

Scorpions’ downfall due to political interference

By Kwazi Dlamini The African Union declared 2018 the year of combating corruption on the continent. In South Africa, as more and more corruption scandals are uncovered, the country’s disadvantaged are no better off, while the rich are getting richer. Many of the latter gain their wealth by looting state coffers. South Africa has struggled Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

$1-trillion-plus estimated to have left Africa illegally

by Khayalethu Hamana Over the past 50 years, Africa is estimated to have lost more than $1-trillion in illicit financial flows, but this may well fall short of reality, because accurate data does not exist for many countries. The estimates often exclude illicit flows, such as the proceeds of bribery and the trafficking of drugs, Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Mbeki: illicit financial flows crippling the continent

Former president Thabo Mbeki chairs the African Union’s high level panel on illicit financial flows (IFFs). He addressed the Pan-African Parliament last week on the excessive cost to Africa of these illegal activities. Read Mbeki’s full speech below. Honourable President and Vice Presidents of the Pan African Parliament, Honourable Members, Ladies and Gentlemen: I would 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 NEWS

Arms deal: seven facts that aren’t going away

Source: Anine Kriegler, Right2Know A recurring line from those trying to dismiss allegations of corruption in the arms deal is: “Show us the evidence.” During his testimony at the Seriti Commission two weeks ago, former president Mbeki took an opportunity to lash out at critics, saying: “For all of these years we have been saying, let Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Mbeki: arms deal was above board

By Lee-Ann Alfreds Former president Thabo Mbeki returned to the limelight after almost six years in virtual seclusion to deny there had been anything untoward in the 1999 arms deal. Testifying before the Arms Procurement Commission – which is probing allegations of fraud and corruption in the controversial deal – Mbeki insisted there was no Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Will the Seriti Commission run out of time?

By Lee-Ann Alfreds While contracts, national industrial participation programmes, defence industrial participation programmes, credits, multipliers, scores and offsets have had a lot of airing at the Arms Procurement Commission taking place in Pretoria, they are not the word that has been heard most frequently over the last eight months. That word is adjournment. For since Read more >

WHISTLE-BLOWERS

Fighting the good fight

By Lee-Ann Alfreds Their breadth of recall is mind-boggling. Dates, figures, names and irregularities that several official investigations have tried – unsuccessfully – to unravel for over 15 years, these are the details that arms deal activist Terry Crawford-Browne and whistleblower Richard Young readily have at their fingertips. It’s not surprising, though, as both have Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

The arms deal – South Africa’s corruption trailblazer

By Lee-Ann Collingridge Nkandla, Dina Pule, Sicelo Shiceka, Bheki Cele. South Africa is awash with corruption scandals (amounting to nearly R1-billion last year alone, according to financial forensics expert Peter Allwright) and many analysts believe they know one of the catalysts: the Strategic Defence Procurement Package, better known as the arms deal. For it was Read more >