HEROES & ZEROES

Corruption snapshots: 2013 so far …

By Kavisha Pillay It’s tough to keep up with the scandals continually staining our rainbow nation, so to make the task that much more manageable, Corruption Watch has drawn up a timeline of events. It’s quick and easy to check progress on graft cases, and catch up on new corruption stories. Like a one-stop shop, Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Gauteng residents turn up the volume

By Corruption Watch reporters Our heroes this week are the people of Gauteng who, during our recent public awareness drive, showed us just how angry and fed up they are with corruption. At the Bara taxi rank, the University of Johannesburg (UJ), Zoo Lake and Maponya Mall in Soweto, individuals were eager to speak out Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Determined duo take on education department

By Gcina Ntsaluba Deep in the mountains of the Drakensberg, at Moshesh Senior Secondary School in Queen’s Mercy, a rural village near Matatiele in Eastern Cape, is an inspiring story of two grade 12 pupils who are holding the provincial and national departments of education accountable for the poor governance and appalling learning conditions at Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Corruption Watch exposé leads to suspensions

By Zaheer Cassim Three officials at Dr JS Moroka municipality near Witbank in Mpumalanga have been suspended after a Corruption Watch investigation exposed some very dodgy spending by procurement clerks employed by the municipality. Corruption Watch was alerted to the case when the accounting officer at a private company, who had been involved in supplying Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Rhodents take up corruption fight

By Nicky Rehbock The students of Rhodes University, Rhodents as they are affectionately known, recently demonstrated just how serious they are about fixing South Africa when their SRC president Sakhe Badi publically committed to fighting corruption in the country. For taking this bold initiative and showing that an activated youth is the key to the Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Cops are the heroes

Valencia Talane The Free State Hawks and the South African Police Service (SAPS) are Corruption Watch’s joint heroes of the week. On Tuesday, the crime fighters arrested nine police officers and six Home Affairs officials stationed at the Caledonspoort border post with Lesotho for corruption. The group is believed to have allowed undocumented travellers from Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Public service’s R1-billion failure

By Zaheer Cassim and Nicky Rehbock South Africa’s public service is in our bad books again following damning revelations that financial misconduct in state departments could exceed R1-billion for the 2011/2012 financial year. All this while schools go without vital learning material, desks and flushing toilets; hospitals limp along with shortages of life-saving drugs, linen Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Secrecy Bill passed by Parliament

The passing of the contentious Protection of State Information Bill – or Secrecy Bill as it has come to be referred to – is an act deserving of Corruption Watch’s (CW) zero-of-the-week status. We join other civil society organisations in expressing disappointment at this turn of events in South Africa’s democracy. With the Bill needing Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Municipal looting in North West’s platinum district

Our zero this week is North West’s wealthiest municipality – the Bojanala Platinum District – where close to 30 employees were found to have awarded tenders among themselves and to other government officials, in deals worth millions of rands. The auditor-general’s report and the Municipal Public Accounts Committee oversight report for 2011/12 detail how close Read more >