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Dear Friends,
Corruption Watch welcomes you to its first monthly newsletter to keep you up to date with developments at the organisation.
Introduction
Last month marked a year since CW was launched. We are pleased to share with you news that we are making meaningful strides as detailed in our first annual report. The 3 223 reports received from the public since we launched clearly shows that South Africans are willing and ready to stand up against corruption.
Of the 3 223 reports received, 1 227 or 38% relate to corruption as the organisation understands it. The contents of these reports have shown us hotspots where we will focus our efforts this year.
Highlights of 2012
The success of our No more tjo-tjo campaign and hard-hitting report on tackling bribery on the roads –underlines the importance of partnership. We collaborated with several organisations to put pressure on the Johannesburg Metro Police Department to implement key anti-bribery recommendations. The City ultimately adopted all our points and incorporated them into their its new anti-corruption strategy, which was launched in October last year.
Our pledge campaign aimed at committing signatories to a corruption-free South Africa was rolled out at Rhodes University and the University of Johannesburg during the course of last year. As means of mobilising youth, CW partnered with radio station YFM in September to introduce a weekly radio feature to encourage youth to report corruption and resist the practice by signing our pledge.
We also boosted our campaign to encourage the public to report to us by launching a series of animations by satirist Mdu Ntuli. Click here to view the first two instalments of the six-part series featuring the shady Bra Tjotjo and his partner Van Deventer. This campaign is specifically aimed at getting youngsters to recognise CW as a credible channel for reporting corruption.
Looking ahead
We will be paying special attention to corruption taking place in small towns and public schools following the high number of reported incidents on these sectors. Public procurement and supply chain management will also form part of our 2013 focus, as indicated by reporting trends. We are also looking at innovative ways of influencing how the public view corruption and to buildbuilding support for more open, less corrupt institutions, and intolerance for abuse of public resources. We encourage all our partners to join us in these efforts.
Latest action
In January this year CW wrote a letter to the Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi, requesting the names of companies and individuals who were awarded contracts to perform the Nkandla upgrade.
CW, together with Treatment Action Campaign, also released a media statement announcing that it plans to go to court to gain access to a report detailing serious maladministration, unlawful expenditure and improper conduct in the Gauteng health department.
The report was compiled by the Special Investigating Unit following its investigation at theinto the department between 2006 and 2010.
(SIU) report. CW has uncovered fronting in a R30-million tender won by Mvula Trust to manage the distribution of hundreds of millions of rand through a communities-based job-creation project. The findings have been passed on to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs for further probing.
What do our reports from the public say this month?
The highest levels of reported corruption have been in local government and education this month. Out of all sectors, health got the smallest number of reports. The greatest number of reports came from Gauteng, followed by KwaZulu-Natal. We received a minimal number of reports from the remaining provinces, but nothing from the Eastern Cape. Bribery was the most reported type of corruption this month followed by irregularities in public procurement processes. Other types of corruption reported include the abuse of public resources by private individuals or firms, and the existence of ghost workers.
Once again, we thank you for your continued support and encourage you to share your stories with us.
