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The City of Joburg’s anti-corruption plan, tailored according to Corruption Watch’s recommendations and launched today, is a victory for active citizens who spoke out and took a stand with us against bribery and abuse on Joburg’s roads.
Firstly, we’d like to congratulate the City for listening and taking action after the April release of our Law for sale report, which exposed endemic corruption in the City’s metro police department.
We’d also like to congratulate members of the public who spoke out about bribery and corruption at the hands of the department’s cops – and whose voices were included in the report. Since April we’ve continued to receive streams reports from the public and those have been used to strengthen our campaign and advocate for change.
But it doesn’t stop here.
Now we need to ensure this anti-corruption plan is implemented properly and its principles are adhered to at all times, so that long-term behaviour change can take place.
Corruption Watch will continue to monitor progress, but we need you, the public, to be our eyes and ears on the ground and to continue reporting your experiences and knowledge of corruption to us so we can make this work together.
Corruption Watch’s recommendations to the City:
- The Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) and the metro government begin to acknowledge the scale and depth of corruption in the JMPD.
- Members of the JMPD be required to wear visible identification whenever they are on duty and that failure to do so should be grounds for summary dismissal.
- The ability of the public and JMPD officers to report corruption in the JMPD be strengthened and that a reporting system be set up independent of the JMPD.
- Field integrity testing be instituted as a mechanism for detecting corruption
- The metro mayor lead a campaign directed at members of the public and the JMPD, reminding them that bribery is a criminal offence.
After a period of sustained public pressure, we met with the City’s manager Trevor Fowler and JMPD chief Chris Ngcobo in August 2012 to hammer out a framework. The resultant strategy will now not only apply to the metro police division, but throughout the City’s departments, municipal entities and among all elected public representatives.
The plan includes:
- An independently managed 24-hour toll-free anti-corruption hotline, fax, email, SMS and website where members of the public will be able to report anonymously in any of the 11 official languages (details provided below).
- Mandatory rules for JMPD officers to wear name tags and tell motorists their rights when stopped for routine checks, at road blocks or for traffic violations.
- A forensic investigation strategy and organisational structure to ensure independent and objective investigations into alleged irregularities
- The introduction of ICT technology to detect fraud and assist with investigations;
- An undertaking to communicate the results of investigations and disciplinary procedures;
- The allocation of 10 dedicated metro police officers to each of the 130 municipal wards in the City to combat crime and improve the safety and quality of life of residents.
- A commitment to take harsh action against those reported for fraud or corruption.
“We want to believe that the City’s response indicates a willingness to listen to the citizens and a readiness to constructively address bribery on the roads. The public always has an important role to play in this and the City’s recognition of this role is a step in the right direction,” said Corruption Watch’s executive director David Lewis.
To report to Corruption Watch:
Website: www.corruptionwatch.org.za/content/make-your-complaint
SMS: SMS the word BRIBE to 45142 (R1 per SMS)
Phone: 011 447 1472
To report to the City of Joburg:
All-hour toll-free hotline: 0800 00 25 87
Tollfree fax: 0800 00 77 88
SMS: 32840 (R1.50 per SMS)
(All 11 languages)
Email: Anticorruption@tip-offs.com
Website: www.tip-offs.com
