Community could have benefited from Nkandla

Public protector Thuli Madonsela yesterday released her long awaited final report into the alleged irregular and excessive expenditure on security upgrades at Nkandla, President Jacob Zuma’s private residence in KwaZulu-Natal. Madonsela’s investigation is not the first to have been conducted on the controversial construction project. In October 2012 public works minister Thulas Nxesi ordered an Read more >

Local government in South Africa – part 5, finances

The second-last article in our local government series tackles the issue of finances. Funding from the national government is essential for the running of municipal administrations as well as the delivery of services to their communities. There are regulations that prescribe how the finances of municipalities should be run Municipalities are required to provide services Read more >

Tlakula did make inappropriate moves

Corruption Watch has reported before on the questionable leasing deal entered into by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) – a deal that saw the IEC in 2009 signing a contract to rent its new head office building in Centurion, at a cost of R320-million over 10 years. In October 2011 the United Democratic Movement's Bantu Read more >

Local government in South Africa – part 4, the law

In part four of our local government series we take a look at the key pieces of legislation that are relevant to local government. South Africa’s Constitution not only creates local government, but also sets out its objectives in various pieces of legislation. These regulate different areas of local government including the establishment and development Read more >

The latest from the Seriti Commission

Follow our regular updates, straight from the chambers of the Seriti Commission. 24 March 2014: Last Monday, the commission returned to Richard Young’s request for documents and time to allow for adequate cross-examination of Armscor programme manager Frits Nortje. Documentation remains an issue for Young, who has decided not to cross-examine Nortje at this point, Read more >

Help for auditors who report crime

Dear Corruption Watch, Internal auditors often have to speak out against corruption and frequently face intimidation in doing so. Is South Africa’s whistleblower framework sufficient to encourage and protect internal auditors as they perform their vital governance functions? Afraid of Bullying Dear Afraid Internal auditors occupy a unique and important position when it comes to Read more >

Businesspeople say no to corruption

By Valencia Talane Despite the release of the ANC’s parliamentary list this week, which is peppered with discredited politicians, today we have decided to recognise heroes rather than zeroes for the week. If all citizens who fall victim to corrupt public officials were to report crimes committed against them, there would be progress in the Read more >

Belief in offsets was naive

By Lee-Ann Alfreds The premise was irresistible: 64 165 jobs would be created and between R104-billion and R110-billion in investment attracted in return for spending just R30-billion, plus finance costs, on arms. So the South African government, unable to resist, duly contracted with several foreign arms companies to supply fighter jets, submarines, corvettes, helicopters and Read more >

Arms deal offsets – were they worth it?

In the newly democratised South Africa, who could say no to an investment into our economy of between R104- and R110-billion, with the creation of 65 000 jobs? This was the promise of the Strategic Defence Procurement Package (SDPP or arms deal) offset agreements. At the time it would cost the country around R30-billion – excluding Read more >