Strengthening integrity in government

By Lorraine Louw Ethics was a topical point at the centenary conference of the Public Service Commission (PSC), where the twin issues of good governance and corruption were discussed by a variety of speakers. The PSC was originally formed by the colonial government on 1 August 1912; it has had a number of permutations since Read more >

Non-compliance vs corruption – is there a difference?

By Lorraine Louw A lively debate about what constitutes corruption was held at the Public Service Commission’s centenary conference in Cape Town on 1 August. Integrity, said Ayanda Dlodlo, the deputy minister of public service and administration in the opening presentation of the breakaway session “The fight against corruption”, was more than simply the absence Read more >

New twist in whistleblower murder case

By Valencia Talane Ex-Rustenburg mayor Matthew Wolmarans and his former bodyguard Enoch Matshaba, the men convicted of killing corruption whistleblower Moss Phakoe, were dealt a setback in their quest for freedom this week when the North West High Court threw out their bid to have the case reopened on grounds of there being new evidence. Read more >

Cost of corruption: numbers speak for themselves!

By Kavisha Pillay In our Cost of Corruption series – presented in three parts over the past few weeks – we've given you an indication of how the scourge of corruption has eaten into funds that could have been used for much-needed public services. To summarise our points, we've developed the infographic below. The real Read more >

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 >

Procurement corruption rampant in schools

Here’s a snapshot of some of the schools incidents* we’ve received from the public recently, so you can get a feel for the kind of trends we're picking up: a power struggle at a school that resulted in a corrupt principal being appointed; a deputy principal at a college buying expensive software that never materialised; Read more >

Traffic tjo-tjo and HR nepotism on the increase

Here’s a snapshot of some of the corruption incidents* we’ve received from the public recently, so you can get a feel for the kind of trends we're picking up: a jobs-for-friends scheme by a senior HR manager, bribes in exchange for test passes at a certain Gauteng traffic department, a Harley Davidson biker targeted for Read more >

Collusion is corruption

By David Lewis The past week has been a ­watershed in two related perceptions of corruption in South Africa. The first is that the private sector bears little responsibility for corruption. The second is that no good news regarding corruption ever comes out of the public sector. The notion that the private sector was, at Read more >

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 >