DEAR CORRUPTION WATCH

Zuma’s praise for public servants is misplaced

Dear Corruption Watch I see that President Jacob Zuma has recently praised public servants for a job well done. This is at odds with recent press on greedy public servants lining their pockets. Is our president's praise misplaced? — Confused Dear Confused We are aware of the president's congratulatory letter to the public servants, which Read more >

DEAR CORRUPTION WATCH

What about ‘name and shame’?

Dear Corruption Watch Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi recently announced the steps he is taking to root out corruption and collusion in his department. He says he can tell us what is being investigated but cannot tell us who, in business and government are implicated because there are laws which prevent him from disclosing names. Read more >

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Spotlight on Hitachi deal

Dear Corruption Watch,  I see that the performance bonus contract Eskom signed with Alstom for certain work on the Medupi power station has been cancelled, but not with Hitachi in which the ANC's Chancellor House investment arm owns shares. Can Alstom contest this on the basis that it is unfair? What legal options do interested Read more >

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Procurement law must be simplified

Dear Corruption Watch It seems that every other week there is a different scandal in the news involving procurement. Most tenders seem to land up in court, with service providers squabbling over the spoils of government spending. Is our government just really bad at procurement, or is there a deeper problem with the law that Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Victory for whistleblowers as education boss sacked

A whistleblower who tipped off Corruption Watch early last year will no doubt sleep sounder at night now knowing that acting superintendent-general Abe Seakamela has been fired from the North West Education Department. In mid-March Seakamela pleaded guilty to misconduct charges following an internal probe into allegations that he irregularly employed and then promoted his Read more >

DEAR CORRUPTION WATCH

What can be learnt from the textbook crisis?

Dear Corruption Watch We are all too painfully aware of the textbook scandal, but I wonder what functions and powers district education departments have? Do they play any role in the allocation of funds to schools? What sort of oversight do they have and should they have blown a whistle on the lack of textbooks? School Blues   Dear School Read more >

DEAR CORRUPTION WATCH

Police inaction can be investigated

Dear Corruption Watch, A bottle store in our area operates beyond the legal closing times. Besides breaking the law, this practice also attracts people to our suburb at late hours, including police, who patronise the store. Members of the community have reported the matter to the local SAPS, Metro Police, as well as the 10111 Read more >

DEAR CORRUPTION WATCH

Heads can roll for late reports

Dear Corruption Watch, Every year, we read about qualified audits and other stories about financial mismanagement. What are the penalties that provincial departments incur when they fail to submit quarterly and annual financial statements on time? What policy or law addresses the financial accountability of provincial (education) departments? Yours, Number Cruncher   Dear Number Cruncher, Read more >

DEAR CORRUPTION WATCH

What good will an anti-corruption agency be?

Dear Corruption Watch You recently suggested that the best way to address South Africa’s problems with corruption would be to establish a single agency responsible for tackling corruption. But  are you confident that a single anti-corruption agency is the answer? If one is set up and fails for any reason, then we would have nothing Read more >