CORRUPTION NEWS

Don’t be intimidated by police – know your rights

By Zaheer Cassim It’s Friday evening, close to midnight. Aislinn Laing is in the car with her husband and her mother-in-law. Laing and her family are from England and are driving in a rental vehicle through Parkview, one of Johannesburg’s more affluent areas. It’s late and all they want to do is get home. Laing Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Graft report release: eThekwini holds its breath

The eThekwini council is to respond today, Wednesday 29 February 2012, at a council meeting to allegations raised in the Manase and Associates report, which revealed R2.2-billion in irregular expenditure over a three-year period and implicates some high-ranking municipal officials and politicians.    The council was given 21 days to respond to the closely guarded 700-page Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

More clout needed for local govt watchdogs

Municipal public accounts committees (MPACs) are being presented as one of government’s most important tools in the fight against poor financial management and accountability at local level, but so far only 101 of 272 municipalities have set these up despite a November 2011 deadline.   Cash-strapped Limpopo had set up two MPACs by October 2011, Read more >

CORRUPTION SNAPSHOTS

Corruption snapshot: 16 – 23 February

Zuma gets serious about graft, DA’s response President Jacob Zuma said in his State of the Nation debate reply that the South African government takes the fight against crime and corruption extremely seriously, adding that the Anti-Corruption Task Team is successfully tackling graft in both the public and private sectors. Zuma said the Anti-Corruption Task Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Budget tackles procurement, lease deals head-on

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s plans to fight corruption in state procurement and review all property leases was welcomed by political parties and labour, following the unveiling of South Africa’s R1-trillion budget on Wednesday 22 February 2012. Corruption in procurement and questionable leasing deals are costing government billions annually. Just the two police headquarter leases, for Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Transparency International: Corruption perceptions index, 2011

Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index ranks countries according to perceived levels of public-sector corruption. It gives scores to 183 countries with 10 being “clean” and 0 being “highly corrupt”. The 2011 Index ranks New Zealand (9.5), Denmark (9.4) and Finland (9.4) top the list, with North Korea and Somalia at the bottom, both with a Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

UN Convention against corruption, 2003

Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in October 2003, the Convention against Corruption tackles the scourge of corruption globally and affirms core values such as public accountability and transparency, honesty and respect for the rule of law. The Convention calls for the criminalisation of corruption in both the public and private sectors; sets out Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Statistics SA: Victims of crime survey, 2011

The Victims of Crime Survey 2011, a countrywide survey by Statistics South Africa, focuses on peoples’ perceptions and experiences of crime and their views regarding the police and justice systems. Residents from 29 754 households were polled between January 2010 and December 2010, with the findings providing insights into national and provincial trends. Among the key Read more >

HEROES & ZEROES

Our first zero

Godfrey Thabo Nkhasi, more commonly known as Thabo Nkhasi, was fired on 12 February 2012 for fraudulently using council letterheads to sell municipal land for personal gain. He was the ANC councillor for Ward 28 in Diepkloof, Soweto. In 2008 Nkhasi was paid R15 000 for land he sold to the Together As One Church Read more >