Posts

Interviews signal final stages of PP appointment process

10 August 2016 On Thursday 11 August, a Parliamentary ad hoc committee will interview 14 candidates that have been shortlisted for the position of public protector. The interviews will commence at 07h45 and can be viewed on Parliament’s television and YouTube channel. Earlier this year, Corruption Watch launched its Bua Mzansi campaign to ensure that Read more >

We must hold our municipal councillors accountable

In the just-concluded local municipal elections we cast two votes – one for a party and one for an individual. Voters in areas which form part of a district council received a third ballot paper for the district council election. Those votes will result in the election of councillors, who are tasked with doing their utmost Read more >

MVC says all party donations must be accounted for

My Vote Counts (MVC) has embarked on the next step in its fight for transparency in political party funding in South Africa. The organisation is advocating for complete transparency and reform of the funding of all political parties, making it mandatory for all parties to disclose where their money is coming from, thereby giving all citizens the chance to Read more >

CW’s financial transparency above reproach

Corruption Watch is one of only six organisations on the African continent whose financial transparency levels have received a five-star rating from Transparify in its recently released report titled How Transparent are Think Tanks about Who Funds Them 2016? The Tbilisi, Georgia-based Transparify assesses the transparency levels of think tanks in terms of their sources Read more >

CW’s Bua Mzansi campaign bears fruit

EDITORIAL First published in Business Day Protector selection too important to be left to MPs The full list of nominees to replace Public Protector Thuli Madonsela will be announced on Tuesday. But the fact that 72 nominations have been received is a welcome reflection of the degree of interest and engagement in this very important Read more >

Meet your public protector ad hoc committee

The political parties which comprise the ad-hoc committee. On 24 May the National Assembly appointed an ad-hoc committee to oversee the appointment process for a new public protector. The non-renewable seven-year term of incumbent Thuli Madonsela comes to an end in October 2016 and a successor must take over. After weeks of scrutinising, shortlisting and Read more >

Reforming party finance in SA: exploring the options

By Gary Pienaar and Collette Schulz-Herzenberg First published on Human Sciences Research Council Money plays a fundamental role in a democracy. Political parties need to reach their constituencies and inform them of their policies. Not disclosing private donations can lead to corruption, cronyism and policy capture, but would disclosing donations necessarily increase public trust? In Read more >

Cleaning up political party funding

South Africa holds local government elections in just under two months. Our new three-part series looks at political party funding and the implications of disclosure or non-disclosure of private funding. Part one examines the results of a 2015 global study focusing on the transparency and effectiveness of political finance regimes. In part two we republish Read more >

Correspondence with public protector ad hoc committee

At the end of May, once we knew who would be serving on the ad hoc committee to oversee the public protector appointment, we wrote to the committee expressing our support, and making a request or two. Committee chairperson Makhosi Khoza sent us a cordial reply, saying that our interest was appreciated, and that the Read more >