Posts

Audit reports improve, but old problems remain

Presenting his audit report on provincial and national departments last year, auditor-general (AG) Kimi Makwetu said that wasteful expenditure and the flouting of procurement processes in government will continue because there are simply no consequences for errant officials who abuse systems without shame. This year, he said much the same thing. Presenting his audit report Read more >

SA police force featured in new corruption book

South Africa is one of eight emerging nations whose police forces are profiled in a new book titled Police Corruption and Police Reforms in Developing Societies. The volume, edited by Kempe Ronald Hope, Sr., looks at efforts to combat police corruption in Argentina, Cameroon, Ghana, India, Kenya, Solomon Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and South Africa, Read more >

Businessman blows the whistle on corrupt officials

These days it’s almost standard practice among those seeking to do business with state departments to pay bribes in order to win lucrative contracts. But there are those who stand up against this unwanted activity – such as businessman Fikile Bili from North West’s Ditsobotla local municipality. He blew the whistle on corrupt government employees Read more >

An action plan for more open government

In part two of our series on the Open Government Partnership (OGP), we take a closer look at South Africa’s action plans – that is, the efforts its government is making to improve openness and transparency. Part one gave an overview of OGP and South Africa’s role in it. The OGP was launched in 2011 Read more >

OGP for transparency and accountability

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) held its second global summit in Mexico from 27 to 29 October 2015 – the first took place in London in 2013. South Africa, which is a founding member of the OGP, attended the gathering. Our new two-part series looks at South Africa’s participation in the OGP process – part Read more >

The power of investigative journalism

Corruption is a crime that goes unnoticed, and often it’s only through the efforts of investigative journalists that such crimes are exposed. Because it’s important for journalists to hone their skills and learn from their peers, Wits University last week hosted the latest edition of Power Reporting 2015 – the African Investigative Journalism Conference. Wits’ Read more >

SA falls short of measures to curb corrupt financial flows

In its report released to coincide with the upcoming G20 meeting in Turkey, Transparency International (TI) has highlighted how G20 countries, including South Africa, have failed to honour their undertaking to fight corruption through implementing more transparent business practices that would make it difficult for the corrupt to hide or move money across borders. This Read more >

G20 drops ball on beneficial ownership

The G20 has not delivered on promises to tackle issues of beneficial ownership – this is revealed in a report released on Thursday by Transparency International. In November 2014 the G20 countries – of which South Africa is one – met in Brisbane. Among the topics up for discussion was the question of beneficial ownership. Read more >

Defence anti-corruption index exposes SA weaknesses

Ahead of the G20 summit, which this year takes place in Antalya, Turkey, on 15 and 16 November, Transparency International UK’s Defence and Security Programme has launched the results of the Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index (GI) for these states, including South Africa. The GI measures the risk of corruption in national defence and security establishments Read more >