HEROES & ZEROES

Maphatsoe’s mouth misfires

Corruption Watch has often come out in support of the public protector, Thuli Madonsela, and this week was no exception. Our zero is the deputy minister of defence and military veterans Kebby Maphatsoe, who levelled some serious, and ludicrous, allegations at Madonsela and then the next day, following a massive public denouncement, retracted his statements Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Taxpayers’ money wasted again

The South African Post Office (SAPO) is one of a number of state bodies that are under investigation by the Special Investigating Unit for maladministration and corruption – others include the national departments of labour, public works, and transport, and the State Information Technology Agency. News emerged during the week that SAPO suffered a financial Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Arms deal critics drop commission

Our heroes this week are Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) and their clients – arms deal critics Andrew Feinstein, Paul Holden and Hennie van Vuuren – who have withdrawn from the Seriti Commission of Inquiry into the R70-billion arms deal after doing their best to support it. The decision was not taken lightly, said LHR Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Centre keeps the basic education department on its toes

Our hero this week is the Centre for Child Law, an organisation based at Pretoria University, that’s fighting for a better life for South Africa’s children through education, research, advocacy and litigation – currently it is focused on the Eastern Cape, where the education situation is dire. In November 2013 we published an article on Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Papadi Makhetha: housing’s anti-fraud champion

By Janine Erasmus To date Corruption Watch has received around 170 reports of alleged corruption in the housing sector – the majority from Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape. Gauteng’s metropolitan municipality of Ekurhuleni has the most complaints, followed by the cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town. Gauteng has the greatest demand for government housing Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Putting consumers in danger

Our zeroes this week are the well-known retail food stores involved in the food label scandal – amounting to abuse of power and position – that broke this week. Earlier this week media reported on an investigation by the National Consumer Commission – an agency of the Department of Trade and Industry – that exposed Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Pursuit of corruption has its inspiring moments

By David Lewis We at Corruption Watch are often asked whether we don’t find our job depressing. The question assumes that spending each day dealing with the seamier side of human conduct and confronting an insoluble problem must be a depressing experience. It’s not at all depressing. On the contrary, it is quite uplifting. First, while we Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Joburg takes the lead

The City of Johannesburg has fingered 30 businesses alleged to have fleeced the municipality of R200-million worth of potential power revenue. For their part in this exercise of the government catching out the private sector for dubious acts and exposing its corruption, the City is our hero of the week. As many as 22 people Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Prison corruption taking us backwards

By Janine Erasmus That there is corruption in South African prisons is no secret – but the actual extent of it might never be known for sure. A few recent incidents taken up in the media give us a hint – issues at Leeuhof Prison, in Vereeniging, Gauteng, which were revealed in June, were just Read more >