If the job of taking action is placed solely on the shoulders of government, the commission’s work is bound to have been in vain, write Richard Chelin and Craig Moffat. And given South Africa’s poor record on implementing the advice of commissions, this is where business and civil society must pitch in.
The Constitutional Court has ruled that there’s no reason for Cash Paymaster Services to delay providing documents on its expenses and income from its social grants contract, writes Tania Broughton for GroundUp. The court had previously held that CPS may not benefit from its unlawful contract with Sassa and ordered the company to file audited statements. CPS‘s liquidators went to court to try to postpone filing the statements but the apex court ruled that statements must be provided without further delay.
South Africa has no shortage of solutions to its corruption challenges, write Corruption Watch’s Karam Singh and Tharin Pillay. However, it has a serious lack of political will to implement the numerous recommendations and changes needed to fight the scourge – and the window of opportunity for action won’t stay open forever.
On 10 February 2022 President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his fifth State of the Nation address – one that some analysts say was big on ambitious plans but lacking in details. Read the full text here.
To have a meaningful impact on how your municipality is run, you need to understand the processes involved. The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs is calling for active citizen participation in local government, and has published a short guide on some of the more important municipal structures.
Because the ongoing impeachment proceedings against Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane are primarily about accountability, Corruption Watch and the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution joined as amici. In the latest judgment, handed down on Friday 4 February 2022 by the Constitutional Court, the bench commended the two organisations for their submissions.
Parliament has announced that next week, on 8 and 9 February 2022, its joint standing committee on intelligence (JSCI) will interview the 10 shortlisted candidates vying for the position of inspector-general of intelligence. As it has done with previous important leadership appointment, Corruption Watch has urged the committee overseeing the process to ensure it is as fair and transparent as possible.
In the Constitutional Court today, the Women’s Legal Centre Trust is amicus in a matter dealing with an Equality Court ruling that the allocation of police human resources in the Western Cape unfairly discriminates against black and poor people based on race and poverty. The Equality Court did not provide a remedy to its finding of discrimination and the applicants will ask the court to compel the police leadership to address this issue, with a deadline included.
Towards the end of last year, Good Governance Africa released the latest version of its Governance Performance Index. We reported earlier this year on the results for municipalities, and we now highlight the performance of the country’s eight metropolitan municipalities and, in brief, the background thereto.
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.