Pikitup board to discipline Nair

The Pikitup board has decided to take action in the irregular R260-million three-year tender awarded to Aqua Transport and Plant Hire, a company which had previous negative findings against it in a forensic investigation. The board is said to be instituting disciplinary procedures against Pikitup MD Amanda Nair for her part in the dubious deal. Read more >

Join our online budget discussion

Do you think finance minister Pravin Gordhan has adequately addressed the needs of the people in his 2014 budget speech? What did he do right, or wrong? Has he taken the issue of corruption seriously enough to put proper measures in place to combat it? If you think he has, if you think he hasn’t, Read more >

Why we must care about the Seriti Commission

By Lee-Ann Alfreds The Arms Procurement Commission is not a farce and should be supported – even though the first cabinet minister to appear before it was not subjected to a grilling about his knowledge of the suspect arms deal, and critics were not receiving access to documents they requested. Addressing the media at a Read more >

Feinstein, Van Vuuren to brief media

The Seriti Commission, formally known as the Arms Procurement Commission, is currently in session in Pretoria. The commission is probing allegations of widespread and far-reaching corruption that have plagued the controversial deal almost from day one. Authors Andrew Feinstein and Hennie van Vuuren, represented by Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), are scheduled to brief the Read more >

Not perfect, but commission can still produce results

By Lee-Ann Alfreds His appearance was greeted with fanfare and excitement after months of dry and technical testimony by largely-unknown flunkies and officials. But then, former trade and industry minister Alec Erwin came and went in the blink of an eye – and fears for the credibility of the Arms Procurement Commission went into overdrive. Read more >

The arms deal – analysis and updates

The first phase of the two-man Arms Procurement Commission, or the Seriti Commission, started on 20 January and was meant to wrap up in May with the testimony of  former president Thabo Mbeki, but his appearance was postponed because of his mother’s death. Phase two of the commission started on 21 July. Under the guidance Read more >

Chief procurement officer makes progress

By Valencia Talane Finance minister Pravin Gordhan’s national budget speech, delivered on Wednesday afternoon, was a display of good news in terms of government efforts to improve the country’s fiscus over the years as well as firm warnings towards those who do business in a dishonest way.   On government spending in particular – an Read more >

New e-book focuses on procurement corruption

Corruption in government procurement processes is a major concern amongst South Africans, as it results in billions of rands of the national budget going down the drain. Many citizens have decided to do something about it – between our launch in January 2012 to the end of January 2014, we have received 465 reports related Read more >

Fighting the good fight

By Lee-Ann Alfreds Their breadth of recall is mind-boggling. Dates, figures, names and irregularities that several official investigations have tried – unsuccessfully – to unravel for over 15 years, these are the details that arms deal activist Terry Crawford-Browne and whistleblower Richard Young readily have at their fingertips. It’s not surprising, though, as both have Read more >