CORRUPTION NEWS

Information Regulator gets off the ground

In November last year we reported on the establishment of the Office of the Information Regulator. This body falls under the Protection of Personal Information (Popi) Act, which serves as South Africa’s data protection act. Popi itself is not yet in force, but sections pertaining to the Regulator were put into effect through a presidential Read more >

LITIGATION

Court to supervise Sassa grants payments

The Constitutional Court today handed down a unanimous, blistering judgment in the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) matter. Judge Johan Froneman ruled that the court will take over supervision of the implementation of the current and future grants process, indicating that the bench had no trust in social development minister Bathabile Dlamini. “This judgment Read more >

LITIGATION

CW makes submissions in ConCourt in Sassa case

Corruption Watch yesterday appeared in the Constitutional Court as amicus curiae in the matter of the Black Sash vs the minister of social development et al, with Freedom Under Law and the South African Post Office also making submissions. Our submissions focused on the apparently pending interim agreement between Sassa and Cash Paymaster Services (CPS), Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

FIC amendment bill makes the parly grade

The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) amendment bill is one step closer to promulgation. Having being tabled in Parliament as long ago as April 2015 by former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, and sent back and forth a couple of times between President Jacob Zuma and the Standing Committee of Finance, the bill was passed last week Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Deductions from social grants: how it all works

By Erin Torkelson   First published on GroundUp In October 2016, I met a young mother, Thandeka*, who was crying at one of Khayelitsha’s busiest social grant pay points. A Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) official had informed her that she would only receive 26c of her R350 child support grant. Then, because CPS no longer Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Parliament: Sassa/CPS setup must be investigated

UPDATE: Sassa has withdrawn its application to the Constitutional Court for an extension of the contract with Cash Paymaster Services. The agency says it will lodge the case again – but time is running out. Read more about this development.   The South African Social Services Agency’s (Sassa) relationship with social grants service provider Cash Read more >

PUBLICATIONS

Annual report: public does not tolerate corruption

Today, a month after its fifth birthday, Corruption Watch releases its fifth annual report. The report celebrates the almost 15 000 whistle-blowers who have approached us during the last half a decade, and also features highlights of what was a busy year for the organisation. This large volume of reports clearly indicates that the South Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Shadow Report 2016: public’s right to information not upheld

New research by the Access to Information Network (ATI Network) – formerly known as the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) Civil Society Network – has revealed a shocking dereliction of duties by public and private bodies to realise South Africans’ constitutional right of access to information. The Shadow Report 2016 was compiled with Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Cautious budget reflects political landscape

A lot can happen in a political year, and anyone holding Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s last two budget speeches side by side can see evidence of this. Gordhan presented his 2016/17 budget under extreme political pressure on Wednesday – amid some speculation that it may very well be his last – and thus it lacked Read more >