In this article, taken from the foreword of Daring to Act, our recently-released report on perceptions of whistle-blowing in South Africa, former South African Airways treasurer Cynthia Stimpel reflects on her experience and suggests ways in which the private and public sectors can make life easier for their whistle-blowers.
On Tuesday 25 January, Transparency International, the leading civil society organisation tackling corruption worldwide, releases its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). For the first time in its 27-edition history, the CPI will offer a comprehensive look at a decade of corruption, revealing if the country has improved, regressed or stagnated over the last 10 years.
Acting chief justice and state capture commission chairperson Raymond Zondo has found that the same modus operandi used at Eskom was used at Transnet to favour the now defunct TNA Media for irregular contracts worth millions, despite there being no value for the parastatal and no proper procurement processes followed. Between 2012 and 2017, Transnet spent over R120-million on TNA business breakfasts that were broadcast on television over the period, and a further R24-million as sponsor of The Big Interview.
Bain & Co and Nedbank – both implicated in the Zondo commission’s first report on the three years of hearings into allegations of state capture – have both denied any wrongdoing on their part. Bain is said to have been involved in the weakening of Sars, while Nedbank and Regiments Capital allegedly manoeuvred a dubious interest-swap agreement with Acsa.
The first report of the Zondo commission, published on 4 January 2022, zooms in on the dealings that Transnet, Eskom and SAA had with Gupta-owned TNA Media. In the case of Eskom, it highlights the major procurement policy breaches surrounding three contracts entered into between the power utility and TNA and how they did not yield benefits for Eskom, despite being characterised as opportunities for exposure through the TNA Breakfast Briefings on SABC’s Morning Live..
The February 2011 transfer of Themba Maseko from the position of CEO of the GCIS) to the Department of Public Service and Administration was one of the earliest acts of state capture by the Gupta family. So writes Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo in the state capture commission’s first report. Zondo describes Maseko as “one of the few government officials who was willing to stand up to the pressure exerted by the Gupta family”.
Released just before the local government elections of 3 November 2021, the latest Governance Performance Index from Good Governance Africa shows that in some areas, negative audit outcomes and repeated promises are having no effect on improving the lives of residents.
Swift action must be taken against those who benefited from an “elaborate corruption scheme” involving an airports project of the North West department of transport, according to the first report of the state capture commission, released in early January. Furthermore, an existing 6-year-old case into the matter must be wrapped up as soon as possible.
Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has determined, as shown in the first report of the commission of inquiry into state capture, that former South African Airways chairperson Dudu Myeni and her fellow board member and counterpart at the airline’s subsidiary SAA Technical, Yakhe Kwinana, oversaw a state-owned entity riddled with corruption during their terms, and fuelled a culture of bullying, fear and purging of executives who did not agree with their agenda.
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