HEROES & ZEROES

Poor audit for Gauteng housing department

By Valencia Talane   Gauteng’s department of local government and housing is no stranger to bad news, the latest being poor audit results from the 2012/13 financial year. The auditor-general’s office revealed on Thursday that housing fared the worst out of all the Gauteng departments audited. Premier Nomvula Mokonyane told the media that the department’s Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

PAIA proves its worth

By Valencia Talane The true value of the Public Access to Information Act (PAIA) as a tool for democracy emerged this week when 15 organisations – among them media houses – received the long-awaited Manase report, which details corruption worth hundreds of millions of rand in eThekwini Municipality. The groups had applied for the report Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Twin heroes set the standard

By Valencia Talane Our joint heroes for this week are Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and the Competition Commission – both have recently taken swift and effective action against matters affecting the integrity of our nation, showing that unethical behaviour and corrupt scheming do have real consequences. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has set high standards for Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Eastern Cape school transport deal hits the skids

A controversial scholar transport contract will go ahead in the Eastern Cape at the start of the third school term this month despite red flags of mismanagement of public funds raised by the transport oversight committee in the province’s legislature. For the second time this year, the provincial transport department’s contract with One Future Development Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

A bad smell at Pikitup

The rot runs deep at Pikitup, where the managing director, Amanda Nair, is our zero of the week. Trips overseas, awarding contracts to dodgy companies, and then trying to clear Pikitup’s name in newspaper advertisements all add to the stench of corruption hanging over the company. This is what The Star reported on 7 June Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

The psychology of corruption

By Kavisha Pillay It is said that everyone has their price, but what makes a cop accept a bribe, a procurement officer dish out a tender to his friend, or a school governing body cook the institution’s books? Clinical psychologist Dr Giada Del Fabbro, criminologist Dr Elisabeth Grobler, and Rhodes University organisational psychology lecturer Alwyn Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Honouring Gauteng’s top graft-busting cop

We award our hero title this week posthumously to slain top cop and corruption-buster Major-General Tirhani Maswanganyi, who was found dead near his house in Hammanskraal in the early hours of Tuesday morning, 18 June 2013. Gauteng police spokesperson Brigadier Neville Malila said the cause of death is unknown and they are waiting for the Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

KZN health department’s clean sweep

By Valencia Talane KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo this week revealed the results of an intensified effort within his department to fight fraud and corruption during his department’s budget vote speech. Four years and 241 investigated cased later, the task team mandated to rid the department of bad apples deserves our hero of the Read more >

FROM OUR CAMPAIGNS

Brave teachers a take stand against principal

By Corruption Watch reporters Our heroes this week are the brave teachers at Thubelihle Intermediate school in Soweto who contacted Corruption Watch at the beginning of this year to report appalling financial governance at their school, which was robbing learners of their Constitutional right to a quality education. Corruption Watch investigated the allegations and commissioned Read more >