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Covid millions lost to greed, carelessness, and mismanagement

At the beginning of September the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) released its first special report on the management of funds set aside for government’s Covid-19 response. The fiscal relief package was funded reprioritising the 2020-21 budgets and by securing loans. Although, regrettably, the nation fully expected gross misuse and irregularities, the sheer scale of Read more >

Covid-19 corruption pushes govt out of lethargy

By Janine ErasmusFirst published on Transparency International Along with other ordinary South Africans, we at Corruption Watch have followed with increasing dismay the growing number of reports of corruption related to the Covid-19 pandemic. The perpetrators of this corruption have been unashamedly brazen in their hijacking of the emergency measures put into place to deal Read more >

Covid-19 audit flags weak controls, as expected

The report covers about R69-billion of the R147-billion spending for the period from April – when the R500-billion fund was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa – to the end of July. It has flagged, so far, glaring signs of trouble: Exorbitant spending against suppliers when compared to their pre-Covid-19 spendingSuppliers used for the first time Read more >

SIU investigations into water dept are progressing

Towards the end of June the parliamentary standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) received an update from the Special Investigating Unit on its investigations into the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS). Cases discussed included Mhlathuze Water Board, Vuwani Steel Pipeline, Lepelle Northern Water, Gauteng Department of Human Settlements, the DWS SAP licence contract, Umgeni Read more >

Learn from civil society rather than belittling or ignoring it

By Wayne DuvenageFirst published on News24 The message that civil society hears when it points out problems or issues is: how dare it be so bold as to question the rights and decisions of those in authority when spending public funds in the way they do. The people should shut up, sit down and stop complaining. Read more >

TI: two clear opportunities for a better post-Covid world

By Kwazi Dlamini The Covid-19 pandemic has turned the world as we know upside down. It has illuminated shortcomings, failures and inequality in societies all over the world and while there are nations who have handled the crisis supremely well, the same cannot be said for the majority. Transparency International (TI) has released a new Read more >

Fighting Covid-19 also requires intensifying anti-corruption efforts

By Caroline James and Karam Jeet SinghFirst published on News24 Corruption Watch, along with the nation, anxiously sees the number of Covid-19 cases rising while the number of available hospital beds fall. The public health system is under extreme strain but significant resources have been put aside to address the crisis. In this national state Read more >