Like many South Africans, I hear a lot about the growing “lawlessness” in SA. The strongest proponents are often people who have emigrated. It is mentioned in many contexts, but it is increasingly used at home and abroad to criticise corruption in government. Isn’t it sad, the story generally goes, that resources are lost and…
The people of Tunisia, the northernmost African country and epicentre of the recent Jasmine Revolution, conducted a peaceful election a few weeks ago, which has gone unnoticed by many South Africans. Situated on opposite ends of the continent, South Africa and Tunisia face similar social problems, such as high levels of youth unemployment and similar…
The arms companies have successfully avoided scrutiny at the Seriti Commission, essentially putting the whistle-blowers and critics on trial.
The death of former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has renewed debate about his legacy, but there’s been little on its South African component. Even among Israelis, Sharon has long been a controversial figure. A career soldier, considered a brilliant strategist, but one with a history of insubordination, he brought to both his military and…
In a recent Business Day article, former DA leader Tony Leon argues that, despite the brutality of its system, the apartheid political elite had better accountability than we see today. Time, it appears, may both heal wounds and erase memory. In his recent Business Day column, Mr Leon makes an argument that falls into an all-too-common…
In another post, we’ve responded to recent claims that public accountability has eroded in the post-apartheid period. Whatever the current problems facing South Africa, we argue that there are no ‘better days’ to hark back to. Here are eight corruption scandals under the apartheid system that remain ‘open secrets’, for which no meaningful action has…
There has been a stream of obituaries for Marc Rich, infamous billionaire, sanctions-buster, and one-time “King of Oil”. But these obituaries cannot tell the full story: we are still piecing together his true legacy [UPDATE: This article was republished by The Daily Maverick] Probably the most successful oil trader of all time, Marc Rich’s true…
The huge batch of cables released last month by Wikileaks, dating from the 1970s, is a goldmine for researchers of power and profit in South Africa. But some of the stories we found in the cables are as frustrating as they are fascinating.
Despite evidence that political corruption may have been rampant during apartheid, there has been a surprising lack of political will to investigate “If there was corruption during Apartheid, why didn’t anyone hear about it?” A common and obvious question, with more answers than you might think. One answer is that people who lived through apartheid often did…
In order to fight corruption in South Africa, we must first understand it – and acknowledge its secret history at the centre of South African politics and business. It is no secret that South Africa has a problem with corruption. At every level of our society, in the public sector and in the private sector,…