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EU golden visa programme a risky business

From time to time in the South African media, articles appear that talk about the various so-called golden visa programmes offered by several EU countries. This is essentially EU residency or citizenship and a passport in return for money – lots of it. A substantial investment in the country of choice will secure these benefits, Read more >

VBS Bank scandal revealed in explosive report

It started off as a small, wholly black-owned specialist corporate finance and retail bank, established in 1982. Today it is at the centre of what financial analyst Stuart Theobald, speaking this morning on the Classic Business Breakfast show, called “the most shocking example of bank fraud in South Africa’s history”. The Venda Building Society, now Read more >

Damning new evidence of failure by arms commission

This week Corruption Watch (CW) and the Right2Know (R2K) Campaign submitted damning new evidence to the High Court that the Arms Deal Commission failed to do its job. This is an important step in the civil society group’s ongoing challenge against the commission’s findings. The new evidence shows that the commission not only failed in Read more >

Scorpions’ downfall due to political interference

By Kwazi Dlamini The African Union declared 2018 the year of combating corruption on the continent. In South Africa, as more and more corruption scandals are uncovered, the country’s disadvantaged are no better off, while the rich are getting richer. Many of the latter gain their wealth by looting state coffers. South Africa has struggled Read more >

Nene resigns, Tito Mboweni is new finance minister

Nhlanhla Nene’s resignation as finance minister has been accepted by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Former Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni was announced as the new finance minister on Tuesday, following a week of speculation over the fate of Nene. For one, this means that the medium-term budget statement will be presented by South Africa’s third finance Read more >

Zondo Commission – week 7 overview

The Zondo Commission has reached the end of its seventh week. Originally scheduled to run for just three weeks, the hearings have already produced some explosive testimony – Mcebisi Jonas, Vytjie Mentor, and representatives from South Africa’s biggest banks are just some of the witnesses who have come out with startling revelations. This week it Read more >

SA court syndicate said to help rhino poachers escape justice

By Alastair Leithead First published on BBC News A whistle-blower has told the BBC he was the middleman between rhino-horn smugglers and a court syndicate in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. He alleges he took money given to a lawyer from rhino-horn kingpins and paid it to people within the judiciary. The lawyer, Welcome Ngwenya, denies Read more >

Clamping down on wayward auditors

Auditors and auditing firms have been in the news in recent months. We read about the likes of VBS Mutual Bank, Steinhoff and others, where auditors seemingly turned a blind eye to irregularities. Firms such as KPMG, which has been implicated in scandals involving the Gupta-owned Linkway Trading as well as the South African Revenue Read more >

Corruption – if you caught it, report it!

It might be tempting to feel discouraged every time a new instance of abuse of power hits the front pages, or more evidence is uncovered to show the extent of state capture – you may think, “what can I, as one person, do?” Think again! By refusing to allow corruption into your life – no Read more >