RAISING AWARENESS

A tale of moral shakedowns: #1 – Trouble with traffic

By Zola Valashiya Our socialisation conditions us to be law-abiding citizens. Generally, the majority of South Africans are. Despite the crime rate, despite reports of the blatant looting of public resources by politicians, many of us still remain and aspire to be the model citizen. In a country like ours, where corruption is rife, I Read more >

RAISING AWARENESS

The arms deal: so many questions

• First published in the Sunday Times Civil society groups have gone to court to have the findings of the Seriti commission of inquiry into the arms deal set aside. Chris Barron asked David Lewis, chairman [Note: David Lewis is the executive director of Corruption Watch; Mavuso Msimang is the chairman] of Corruption Watch … Read more >

CAMPAIGNS

CW’s Bua Mzansi campaign bears fruit

EDITORIAL First published in Business Day Protector selection too important to be left to MPs The full list of nominees to replace Public Protector Thuli Madonsela will be announced on Tuesday. But the fact that 72 nominations have been received is a welcome reflection of the degree of interest and engagement in this very important Read more >

PUBLICATIONS

Firms need to fight graft with intent

by David Lewis First published in Business Day The best protection against the risk of corruption at companies is a comprehensive, fully implemented, and continually monitored anti-corruption programme, a new study has found. Corruption Watch’s Transparency in Corporate Reporting study is the South African leg of a series of identical studies undertaken by selected Transparency Read more >

CAMPAIGNS

Public reporting would curb illicit outflows from SA

They come, they see and – due to relaxed tax and finance laws, or legal firms that have perfected the art of tax avoidance – they conquer a lot more than they invest in Africa. These are multinational companies that find loopholes in the legislation of the continent’s poorest countries and are able to dodge Read more >

OPINIONS

Court has done its bit, now it’s up to politics

by Steven Friedman First published in Business Day For not the first time, many of us seem to need reminding that the Constitutional Court’s job is to make sure politicians stick to the rules — not to do their jobs for them. Last week’s Constitutional Court judgment deserves the cheers that greeted it — it Read more >

OPINIONS

Zuma: the Ozymandias of the south

By Mavuso Msimang First published in City Press Percy Bysshe Shelley’s famous sonnet Ozymandias, first published in 1818, tells the story of a traveller in the desolate Egyptian desert who comes upon a broken statue of King Rameses II, whom the Greeks called Ozymandias. What remained of this pharaoh’s statue were two huge stone legs Read more >

OPINIONS

Joffe: SA sports corruption comes from the top

By Graeme Joffe I keep wanting to stop the exposes and move on with my life after four years of digging and entertaining threats. But then my inner mind says, how can you stop when things are only getting worse in SA sport and all you really see in the media are cover ups and Read more >

OPINIONS

Tackle corruption by keeping communities in the picture

  By David Lewis Despite the perennial hype surrounding the budget, as long as we have a sane finance minister the “hard” content is inevitably pretty predictable. A good budget is generally a paragon of moderation. Unless it succumbs to special-interest pressure, it won’t slash and burn, and it won’t throw money from a helicopter. Read more >