The parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts is highly displeased that higher education minister Blade Nzimande has seemingly dragged his heels on handing over the report of a forensic investigation ordered into the operations of the National Skills Fund. Furthermore, the committee dismissed Nzimande’s request that the report remain confidential, saying it was not in the interests of transparency.
A recent spate of arrests and court appearances relating to state capture may give South Africans hope that the machinery of justice is finally beginning to grind into motion.
In a comprehensive joint submission to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance today, non-profit organisations Corruption Watch and AmaBhungane presented their analysis of the gaps in the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Bill, which was developed in haste after the Financial Action Task Force found several weaknesses in the current framework. The two organisation also expressed disappointment at the short time frames allowed for public participation.
In the 2022 edition of Exporting Corruption, global anti-corruption organisation Transparency International assesses 47 leading export countries according to their enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. South Africa, which is a signatory to the convention, falls among a sorry group of 38 countries where enforcement is poor or non-existent.
Given the clear lack of capacity in prosecutorial institutions, particularly the National Prosecuting Authority, will some form of amnesty encourage state capture perpetrators to come forward to ‘clean the slate’ or, as argued by Corruption Watch’s Karam Singh and Tharin Pillay, would post-Zondo South Africa be better served by capacitating pre-existing anti-corruption institutions and developing new, stronger and more effective means to hold the corrupt accountable?
Public procurement is a complex field, and one that is especially susceptible to corruption. In this article, Richard Messick of the Global Anticorruption Blog puts forward 10 useful questions that can be used as a starting point to scrutinise government procurement, from small stationary items to major infrastructure.
The local government sector in South Africa is the interface between the state and the citizens it delivers services to, but it is generally fraught with maladministration and corruption, and suffers under political interference. The recent signing into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa of the long-awaited Municipal Systems Amendment Act is a welcome intervention in the quest for good governance for the sector. The question is, will it be simple to implement?
The necessity of improved access to information must be balanced with the privacy of personal information. Both are essential rights and each must complement the other. This question, and more, were under discussion at a Unesco event on 28 September, to mark the International Day for the Universal Access to Information.
Corruption Watch continues this week with its work under the European Union Rallying Efforts to Accelerate Progress project. The organisation, which is the project lead in South Africa, will hold engagements with various communities in Mpumalanga from 4 – 7 October 2022.
Visit our GivenGain R20 for Change page and help us demand transparency in our systems, accountability in our leaders, and better empowerment and protection of whistle-blowers. By donating R20 a month, you’ll be supporting our work with communities across the country, helping them to know and access their rights and reduce the corruption that robs people of resources intended for their benefit.