More controversial additions to Parliament, while Zondo bows out of South Africa’s judiciary, and the ANC integrity commission sets sights on a further group of implicated parties with the aim of imposing consequences for state capture.
The commencement on 19 August of most of the National Prosecuting Authority Amendment Act, which establishes the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption as a permanent, independent unit within the NPA, has drawn mixed responses. The ANC touts it as a sign of South Africa’s commitment to maintaining the highest standards of governance and accountability, while others such as Adv Paul Hoffman go as far as saying the unit is unconstitutional.
Financial reporting under the Municipal Finance Management Act is regressing, Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke told Parliament yesterday while delivering the 2022/23 municipal audit outcomes. Fruitless and wasteful expenditure stands at R7.41-billion – up from R4.89-billion in 2021/22 – while unauthorised expenditure is at R24.12-billion. And only 34 of the 257 municipalities that were audited for the 2022/23 financial year achieved clean audits.
A new dispatch from Afrobarometer focuses on South Africans’ perception of their police service. The picture painted is not a flattering one, with Afrobarometer reporting “widespread concern about the state of the South African Police Service. Majorities of citizens express little or no trust in the police, think most officers are corrupt, and see them as failing to conduct themselves fairly and professionally”.
In an absorbing conversation filmed some weeks ago, Rabbi Gideon Pogrund, director of the Centre for Business Ethics at the Gordon Institute for Business Science, and scholar-in-residence Prof Philip Nichols, from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, discussed South Africa’s struggle against corruption. Nichols offered some insights that would surprise many South Africans.
It is high time that local government is professionalised along with other areas of the state that are getting that treatment, says Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke. The competency of municipalities’ admin staff is as important as the competency of their political leadership and if this is not addressed, Maluleke says, municipalities will continue to misfire.
The Special Investigating Unit has succeeded in its bid to overturn a R257-million contract for personal protective equipment, entered into by the Gauteng Department of Health and a company called Nkhane Projects and Supply during the Covid-19 pandemic of four years ago. The Special Tribunal, on 5 August, ruled the contract invalid and set it aside. Additionally, Nkhane must pay the SIU’s costs for the application, including the costs for two counsel where applicable.
Minister of Higher Education and Training Nobuhle Nkabane has called for the nomination of individuals to serve on the board of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, or NSFAS. The window for nominations opened on 13 August 2024 and will close on Tuesday, 3 September 2024.
A new Amnesty International report once again casts light on the disproportionate victimisation, harassment, and killings of members of Abahlali baseMjondolo, South Africa’s largest social movement representing the interests of shack dwellers, the homeless, and the poor. The report also highlights authorities’ lackadaisical attitude towards the ongoing violence, and the failure to make even desultory attempts to address it.
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