Report reveals over R42-billion in unpaid benefits
The massive theft of pensions should be called a crime, but because it has been perpetrated by corporate South Africa, it is put down to regulatory failure.
Decision to set aside Seriti Commission findings will have a profound impact
Andrew Feinstein, Hennie van Vuuren, Paul Holden | 21 August 2019 We welcome the judgment delivered on Wednesday in the High Court that sets aside the findings of the Seriti Commission of Inquiry into the Arms Deal. This is a profound victory for South African civil society and is the result of years of collective…
Don’t treat witnesses with kid gloves, civil society organisations tell Zondo
Alex Mitchley Civil society organisations have called on Deputy Judge President Raymond Zondo, who is chairing the commission of inquiry into state capture, to not treat certain witnesses with kid gloves, and to robustly apply the principle of equality before the law. According to a joint statement by organisations such as the Right2Know Campaign (R2K),…
Thales, the company which forever sullied the memory of the wise sage of Greece
Greg Nicolson | Daily Maverick Arms company Thales, accused of bribing former president Jacob Zuma, argued on Tuesday that the charges against it are invalid and must be set aside. In Apartheid, Guns and Money: A Tale of Profit, Hennie van Vuuren describes the relationship between French arms company Thomson-CSF and the apartheid government. The state…
Auditor General drawn into Armscor’s R8bn covert-deal battle
An international arms trader, in relentless pursuit of alleged unpaid commission going back to the 1980s, now wants the Auditor General of South Africa to release apartheid-era records to boost his civil claim against the state arms procurement agency in Portugal.
How apartheid poisoned the world
Peter Hain | The Spectator | 15 December 2018 Most people would claim to abhor apartheid, but London, Washington, Paris, Moscow, Beijing, Buenos Aires and Tel Aviv were all in on the act. Around 1970 I was labelled ‘Public Enemy No. 1’ by white South Africa’s newspapers for leading militant anti-apartheid protests which stopped all-white…
Justice still needed for poverty-stricken pensioners after deregistration blunder
“I have saved enough to retire peacefully. But now I will turn in my grave because I will die in poverty.” This was said by Douglas Maila, a member of the Unpaid Benefits Campaign, at a protest outside Alexander Forbes demanding that it pay pensioners the benefits they are owed. Maila’s experience of contributing a…
Banks called out over Gupta heists
The widespread looting and corruption by the Gupta family and its associates were enabled not only by political individuals but also by banks and other financial sector institutions
Looting secrets and shady tactics of banks and auditors revealed in hard-hitting report
Steve Kretzmann | Daily Maverick |15 November 2018 The looting of the VBS Bank may be astounding to struggling South Africans, but it is merely a symptom of a banking and auditing system that skirts the law in order to fleece the poor and enrich the rich. This is revealed in a a new report…
Apartheid, guns and money: book lifts the lid on Cold War secrets
Martin Plaut | The Conversation | 30 October 2018 It’s not very often that a book really reshapes our perception of an issue, but Hennie van Vuuren’s “Apartheid, Guns and Money: a tale of profit” is one. It is a massive work: over 600 pages and the result of a decade of meticulous, painstaking work. Read the…