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DEAR CORRUPTION WATCH

When is a bribe not a bribe?

Dear Corruption Watch, In his testimony before the Seriti Commission on the arms deal, former president Mbeki suggested that a ‘facilitation commission’ is not a bribe. What is the legal distinction? Yours Concerned Middle-Man Dear Concerned Middle-Man Former president Mbeki's testimony decidedly records that the payment of a commission, in and of itself, is not Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

TI: national security, transparency can co-exist

South Africa is one of 15 countries featured in a new report from Transparency International UK’s Defence and Security Programme. Titled Classified Information (A review of current legislation across 15 countries & the EU), the report was launched by TI’s Indonesian chapter and is the latest in the global organisation’s Corruption Risks series. It deals Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Secrecy a threat to our democracy

The Right2Know (R2K) Campaign has today released its Secret State of the Nation Report 2014, which addresses certain trends, patterns and problems around secrecy in South Africa. The country is grappling with ever-greater threats to access to information, such as the Protection of State Information Bill (the infamous Secrecy Bill), which is not yet signed Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Woods: there is a “high probability” of corruption

By Lee-Ann Alfreds Gavin Woods epitomises the saying “when his country called, he answered”. Fourteen years after his and co-chairman of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Andrew Feinstein’s, harrowing attempts to discover the truth behind allegations of corruption in the arms deal, the former IFP member is once again trying to help uncover the Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Seriti Commission not fair or consistent

By Lee-Ann Alfreds The withdrawal of arms deal critics Andrew Feinstein, Paul Holden and Hennie van Vuuren from the Arms Procurement Commission was not surprising in light of the unfair treatment meted out to detractors who have participated in proceedings. This was the unanimous verdict of civil society organisations and arms deal and constitutional experts Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Commission not going to fulfil its mandate?

By Lee-Ann Alfreds THE Arms Procurement Commission is a “waste of taxpayers’ money”. Speaking on Friday 29 August, a day after he and fellow critics Paul Holden and Hennie van Vuuren announced they were withdrawing from the inquiry, Andrew Feinstein said while they had “really wanted this commission to work”, they had concluded they could Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

LHR and clients pull out of Seriti Commission

Source: Lawyers for Human Rights Media statement: Withdrawal from the Arms Procurement Commission The arms deal was a uniquely damaging moment in our young democratic history. It was concluded after decades of uncontrolled spending on foreign and internal wars by the apartheid regime. From the signing of the contracts in 1999 up to R70-billion of Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Staff turnover at the Seriti Commission

By Lee-Ann Alfreds The Arms Procurement Commission is ending as it started – dogged by resignations. One year almost to the day after it was forced to delay the start of public hearings because of the resignation of one of its commissioners, the Seriti Commission – which is probing allegations of graft and corruption in Read more >

CORRUPTION NEWS

Arms deal lessons of more value than cancellations

By Lee-Ann Alfreds Raenette Taljaard is one of democracy's champions – a World Economic Forum young global leader, a Yale World Fellow, holder of two master's degrees, published author, distinguished academic, one of the youngest women ever to be elected to South Africa’s Parliament, political studies lecturer at Cape Town University, and a knowledgeable critic Read more >