Posts

No consciences in social grant fraud

A nursing sister at a provincial hospital is alleged to be receiving a child support grant for a child that does not exist. Through a connection at the home affairs department, presumably, the nurse managed to get a birth certificate made for this “child” so she could be eligible to receive a child support grant. Read more >

Corruption is also a crime, SAPS

Back in September 2012, when Corruption Watch had only been existence for a few months, the organisation expressed concerns over the lack of attention to fraud and corruption-related crimes in the annual crime statistics released by the ministry of police. There was simply no breakdown of information relating to these crimes, despite numerous warnings from Read more >

Papadi Makhetha: housing’s anti-fraud champion

By Janine Erasmus To date Corruption Watch has received around 170 reports of alleged corruption in the housing sector – the majority from Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape. Gauteng’s metropolitan municipality of Ekurhuleni has the most complaints, followed by the cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town. Gauteng has the greatest demand for government housing Read more >

Madonsela, Muthambi see eye to eye

Source: Public protector The public protector, Advocate Thuli Madonsela, and the minister of communications, Faith Muthambi, met in Pretoria on Wednesday, 20 August 2014. The meeting was in connection with the investigation into the alleged irregular appointment of the controversial Hlaudi Motsoeneng as permanent COO of the SABC, as well as other matters of mutual Read more >

Mdluli fraud charges finally stick

In April we reported on the continuing efforts of Richard Mdluli, former head of the police crime intelligence division, to fight off prosecution on a range of charges – murder and intimidation, money-laundering and fraud – relating to various incidents that happened during his controversial career. These incidents include the shooting in 1999 of Oupa Ramogibe, Read more >

Gabriella Razzano: evangelist for openness

By Valencia Talane A transparent system of government that encourages access to information for its citizens as well as freedom of expression, while protecting those who question its decisions and motives, may be an unrealistic concept for many. For the team of activists at the Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC), however, it is the proverbial Read more >

Good and bad of audit reports

  By Valencia Talane Depending on which way you look at it, the municipal audit report for the 2012/13 financial year offers either a positive or a miserable outlook for South Africa's local government landscape. The report was published last week by the auditor-general, Kimi Makwetu. As Pravin Gordhan, the minister in charge of local Read more >

Prison corruption taking us backwards

By Janine Erasmus That there is corruption in South African prisons is no secret – but the actual extent of it might never be known for sure. A few recent incidents taken up in the media give us a hint – issues at Leeuhof Prison, in Vereeniging, Gauteng, which were revealed in June, were just Read more >

Nicky Rehbock: our woman in Berlin

Valencia Talane Many young people from around the world gathered in Brazil in November 2012 for the Transparency International (TI) annual anti-corruption conference. One of those was Nicky Rehbock, who was the editor of the Corruption Watch website at the time. She was so moved by the work of the global organisation – and particularly Read more >