Party funding act useless if not enacted

By Pierre de Vos First published on Constitutionally Speaking Political parties in South Africa tend to resemble Eskom: they burn through piles of cash but seldom deliver as promised. Some of this cash comes from “donations” made to political parties (or to political leaders) by individuals and businesses (think Gavin Watson and Bosasa or Adriano Read more >

CW hosts forum on criminal justice system capture

Following on the AU’s declaration of 2018 as the year of combating corruption in Africa, Corruption Watch (CW) continues to take the fight forward in January 2019. In the third week of the month CW organised a roundtable discussion with some government departments and other stakeholders, which focused on the organisation’s report into the role Read more >

Swift action needed on party funding bill

By Judith February First published on EWN The recent brouhaha regarding President Cyril Ramaphosa and the so-called ‘Bosasa campaign donation’ has again put the funding of political parties in the spotlight. It started when DA leader Mmusi Maimane asked Ramaphosa about a donation of R500 000 he had allegedly received from Bosasa’s Gavin Watson. This Read more >

Foreign bribery largely unchecked in SA, OECD obligations not fulfilled

Yesterday Transparency International (TI) released the 2018 edition of its Exporting Corruption report, following on the previous edition published back in 2015. For South Africa, not much has changed for the better. Exporting Corruption 2018 rates countries on their enforcement against foreign bribery under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Anti-Bribery Convention. The Read more >

South Africa fails to punish foreign bribery, TI report reveals

Transparency International (TI) has today released the 2018 edition of its Exporting Corruption report, rating countries based on their enforcement against foreign bribery under the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. The OECD convention requires signatory countries to criminalise bribery of foreign public officials and introduce related measures. TI examined the enforcement of 40 signatory countries and four Read more >

CW makes submissions on Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Bill

Corruption Watch has made submissions on the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Bill. Our main focus was on issues of good governance and the representation of community interests within traditional leadership structures. Our concerns related to the effect of the bill’s provisions on the ability of communities to voice their concerns within traditional leadership structures and Read more >

Political party funding to become more transparent

Today the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) handed down judgment in the political party funding-related matter of My Vote Counts (MVC) vs the president of South Africa, the minister of justice, and others. The court ruled that voters have the right to be informed about the sources of the private funding of political parties. In delivering today’s Read more >