Posts

Sassa-gate: profit over service

It’s been called “Sassa-gate” for all the right reasons: a government crisis characterised by several weeks of blame games; political backbiting; forensic investigations revealing unlawful information peddling; and even lawsuit threats. It is a situation that many South Africans would hate to see repeated in the future. After weeks of tension and anxiety, relief came Read more >

Information Regulator gets off the ground

In November last year we reported on the establishment of the Office of the Information Regulator. This body falls under the Protection of Personal Information (Popi) Act, which serves as South Africa’s data protection act. Popi itself is not yet in force, but sections pertaining to the Regulator were put into effect through a presidential Read more >

Court to supervise Sassa grants payments

The Constitutional Court today handed down a unanimous, blistering judgment in the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) matter. Judge Johan Froneman ruled that the court will take over supervision of the implementation of the current and future grants process, indicating that the bench had no trust in social development minister Bathabile Dlamini. “This judgment Read more >

CW makes submissions in ConCourt in Sassa case

Corruption Watch yesterday appeared in the Constitutional Court as amicus curiae in the matter of the Black Sash vs the minister of social development et al, with Freedom Under Law and the South African Post Office also making submissions. Our submissions focused on the apparently pending interim agreement between Sassa and Cash Paymaster Services (CPS), Read more >

CPS asks us to retract statements

Corruption Watch has been following, and participating in, the developments around the South African Social Security Services and Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) since 2013. Cash Paymaster Services has written to us through their attorneys, in a letter dated 10 March 2017. They take exception at certain recent statements our executive director David Lewis has made Read more >

FIC amendment bill makes the parly grade

The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) amendment bill is one step closer to promulgation. Having being tabled in Parliament as long ago as April 2015 by former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, and sent back and forth a couple of times between President Jacob Zuma and the Standing Committee of Finance, the bill was passed last week Read more >

Parliament: Sassa/CPS setup must be investigated

UPDATE: Sassa has withdrawn its application to the Constitutional Court for an extension of the contract with Cash Paymaster Services. The agency says it will lodge the case again – but time is running out. Read more about this development.   The South African Social Services Agency’s (Sassa) relationship with social grants service provider Cash Read more >

CW 2016 report shows increasing intolerance for corruption

28 February 2017 The public in South Africa are increasingly intolerant of corruption and the abuse of power by those in positions of leadership and are more willing to hold them to account, according to Corruption Watch’s 2016 Annual Corruption Report.  The report reviews the past five years of the public reporting their experiences of Read more >

Annual report: public does not tolerate corruption

Today, a month after its fifth birthday, Corruption Watch releases its fifth annual report. The report celebrates the almost 15 000 whistle-blowers who have approached us during the last half a decade, and also features highlights of what was a busy year for the organisation. This large volume of reports clearly indicates that the South Read more >