Transparency International’s secretariat and US chapter have both issued strong statements criticising President Donald Trump’s suspension of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, saying that it will empower and embolden criminals. The two organisations refute Trump’s claim that foreign bribery is a ‘routine’ business practice.
Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, released today, reflects the sad reality of stagnating anti-corruption efforts in South Africa. With a score of 41, the same as last year, the country remains stubbornly below the global average of 43, having dropped by three points since 2019.
Transparency International, who releases its 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index on 11 February, says countries should not use their scores to cover up declines in democracy. Some countries use their score on the index to create a distorted narrative around their anti-corruption activities, says the organisation, when in reality they are committing human rights violations and other atrocities.
A group of prominent civil society organisations, all working in the human rights space in South Africa, have issued a statement decrying US president Donald Trump’s puzzling pronouncements on perceived happenings in the country. These include “confiscating land and treating certain classes of people very badly” – which the organisations have refuted in emphatic terms.
Global anti-corruption movement Transparency International releases its annual Corruption Perceptions Index on Tuesday, 11 February. This edition focuses on how corruption is undermining climate action around the world, showing how the countries most in need of climate finance are facing governance and corruption challenges.
The Special Investigating Unit and the Auditor-General of South Africa briefed the parliamentary standing committee on public accounts on audit outcomes for a handful of municipalities including Johannesburg and Tshwane. At the same meeting, the Special Investigating Committee shared progress and results from various investigations into procurement at the municipalities.
Former National Lotteries Commission (LRC) board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda asked the State Security Agency to investigate whistle-blowers, writes Raymond Joseph for NGO GroundUp, which has conducted extensive research and investigation into the LRC’s affairs. The outcome of that investigation, however, was probably not what Nevhutanda had hoped.
Corruption Watch will appear in the Constitutional Court on 6 March to challenge the National Assembly’s recent appointment of persons to the Commission on Gender Equality. The organisation contends that the parliamentary committee on women, youth, and people with disabilities failed in its constitutional duty to facilitate meaningful public involvement in the appointment process, and seeks a court order declaring the appointments to be unlawful and invalid, suspended for 18 months to allow for the process to be run again.
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has announced its (most corrupt) Person of the Year for 2024. The winner is none other than former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad! He deserves the ‘prize’, having overseen a brutally repressive regime for 24 years and caused a civil war that began in 2011 and is still not over.
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