Corruption Watch in the clear

The Mail & Guardian newspaper has published a correction to its story on corruption investigations regarding unions, so clearing Corruption Watch’s name. Evidence for the story, said the ombud, was simply thin. By Corruption Watch Reporter Corruption Watch’s name has been cleared after the Mail & Guardian published a correction to its lead story in Read more >

How things work at Corruption Watch

By Nicky Rehbock Knowing how our organisation works, using real incidents reported to us by the public, helps to show how we treat all cases from the public equally – whether they involve the abuse of public resources or power in a government department, private company, NGO or union. Broadly speaking, there are two very Read more >

Councillors, residents meet after report to CW

Valencia Talane No councillor in Ivory Park would interfere with the building of new RDP houses or the allocation of houses that had already been built, ward councillor Petru Zitha emphasized at a meeting between residents and City of Johannesburg housing officials. Ivory Park, in the northeastern suburb of Midrand, is in Joburg’s Region A, Read more >

Corruption Watch board sets the record straight

The Corruption Watch Board members emphatically affirm that no unions are presently being investigated – following recent false claims in the press that the organisation is probing at least four Cosatu-affiliated unions and “meddling in Cosatu power battles”. Corruption Watch received 1 500 cases of corruption from the public in 2012. Of the reports received, Read more >

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 >

Your stories: tourist faces bribe dilemma

Here’s a snapshot of some of the corruption reports* we’ve received from the public recently, so you can get a feel for the kind of trends we’re picking up: immigration officers at Home Affairs colluding with agents, a tourist with a bribe dilemma and a clinic sister in the Eastern Cape cooking her books. Immigration Read more >

Schools stories: drunk principal with sticky fingers

Here’s a snapshot of some of the reports* on schools we’ve received from the public recently, so you can get a feel for the kind of trends we’re picking up: an education department clerk offering jobs to friends and family, learners at a no-fees school forced to give teachers money, and a drunken principal embezzling Read more >

Public service needs a shake-up, Mr President

By Kavisha Pillay In a letter published in The Star newspaper earlier this month, President Jacob Zuma congratulated the public servants of South Africa who, he said, were improving the country. While it is commendable that many are indeed hard-working and honest individuals who strive to build the nation, the president paints a somewhat fantastical Read more >

How the lotteries board fights corruption

By Valencia Talane For a small village in Limpopo, a community centre provides shelter, meals and life-skills training, mostly to youth who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. The livelihood of such a centre depends on donations from the public and financial support from organisations that give to charities. The centre was one of more than 700 Read more >