27 October 2023

Open Secrets stands with the Palestinian people. We call for an immediate ceasefire by the Israeli occupation forces and an end to Israeli apartheid.

For 56 years, the Israeli apartheid state has led violent wars against Palestinian people to extend its illegal settlements into Palestinian territories. In recent weeks, Israel’s violence in Gaza has intensified, showing clear signs of genocidal intent against Palestinian people. Since 7 October, more than 7,000 Palestinian and 1,400 Israeli civilians have been killed.  The violence has claimed the lives of almost 3,030 children.

Stop the war

The United Nations has said that Israel’s decision to cut water, electricity, fuel and food supplies to 2 million people in Gaza “constitutes collective punishment”, a war crime. Further, 1.1 million Palestinians have been ordered to evacuate northern Gaza, which amounts to a forcible transfer of civilians and is a crime against humanity.

We are seeing a humanitarian catastrophe. Despite this, the Israeli state, under Benjamin Netanyahu, has continued to use genocidal rhetoric and tactics to spur on the violence. In recent days, reports have emerged of Israeli forces increasing the scale of their attacks to include Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.

What we are witnessing in Palestine is an intensification of ethnic cleansing that began with the 1948 Nakba. As South Africans, the year 1948 holds a particular resonance for us, as it also signalled the implementation of new apartheid policies in South Africa.

No South African arms for Israel

In 1997, Nelson Mandela stated, “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”. We call on the South African government to adhere to domestic law and monitor and prevent any South African armaments company from supplying weapons that could be used by the Israeli government to violate human rights.

Declassify apartheid secrets!

For over 10 years, Open Secrets and the South African History Archive (SAHA) have demanded that the South African Department of Defence (DoD) release documents containing information about sanctions busting by arms companies, intelligence agencies and states that facilitated the illicit trade of arms to and from South Africa. Some of these documents relate to violations of sanctions by the Israeli state in its business transactions with the South African apartheid regime.

Despite this long battle, the DoD, in violation of a 2021 court order to release the records, still refuses to hand over the documents.  The DoD said in response that it would contravene a secret agreement between Israel and South Africa, signed by PW Botha in 1975, if it released the documents.

Having experienced the brutalities of apartheid, it is unconscionable that a democratic South Africa would protect the secrets of another apartheid state. Open Secrets calls on the DoD to stop protecting apartheid secrets. The DoD must release all documents related to those who profiteered from apartheid, including Israel.

The allyship of the international anti-apartheid movement was a strong force against the South African apartheid government, therefore, our solidarity with Palestinians is increasingly important in this moment. We urge all South Africans to stand in solidarity with the oppressed.

The post Open Secrets Condemns Israel’s War on the Palestinian people appeared first on Open Secrets.

Defending the right to access apartheid records

MEDIA STATEMENT|

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) is in the Johannesburg High Court today, representing Open Secrets in its substitution as a party in a fight for apartheid era records held by the Department of Defence and Military Veterans (the Department).

This is an almost 10 year long fight which relates to information that was requested about the policies and practices of the apartheid government during the height of apartheid-era international arms sanctions busting. The ninetyfive folders sought contain information concerning dozens of secret apartheid-era military procurement projects as well as visits and liaison with people and organisations in countries such as Argentina, China, France, Israel, Paraguay, Portugal, Switzerland, Taiwan and the USA. These are clearly of enormous public importance for understanding South Africa’s violent past. These records were and still are needed by organisations such as Open Secrets to piece together the story of what happened, why and who is accountable. The importance of this material is central to truth telling and exposing hidden histories as Open Secrets has shown in the book Apartheid Guns and Money.

This fight for access to apartheid era records started in 2013, when the South African History Archive Trust (SAHA) requested access to various documents in the possession of the Department. Between 2015 and 2016, the Department furnished some declassified records, but informed SAHA that it had taken the decision to exclude other records. This request was undertaken in consultation with Open Secrets, a civil society organisation focused on investigating the links between economic crime and human rights abuse.

Following several attempts at engaging with the Department in order to access these records, LHR instituted an application to compel the Department to furnish the refused records. On 21 January 2021, the application was heard at the Johannesburg High Court, and SAHA obtained a court order for the Department to provide SAHA with the records. After over 6 more months of LHR attempting to enforce the court order and get the records from the Department, the Department applied to have the court order rescinded. Unfortunately, in the intervening time, the SAHA Trust was dissolved and therefore could no longer oppose the Department’s rescission application. As a result, in November 2021, SAHA notified the Department that Open Secrets, its long-time partner on these requests, would be substituted for SAHA in the court case.

The Department then launched an application to oppose the substitution, on the basis that the requirements for substitution is not met and that if it were to be allowed, the Department will be prejudiced. Open Secrets and LHR disagree: Open Secrets has a direct and substantial interest in the case and the substitution of SAHA by Open Secrets will not prejudice the Department since the Department will be in the same position if Open Secrets were initially joined as a party to the case. This information is requested for the public interest and it should be made available to the public.

Charné Tracey, LHR Attorney, noted that “Overcoming and succeeding in this application is essential for the main issue to be resolved and, ultimately, for promoting the constitutional right to access to information. The right to access to information fosters openness and exposes corrupt government practices – this is pertinent considering South Africa’s history which is marred by the culture of secrecy and unresponsiveness in public institutions.”

Hennie van Vuuren, Director at Open Secrets, noted that, “This is an important step in an epic decade long battle for openness. It is scandalous that our public institutions keep secrets the records of collaborators with a crime against humanity. The contents of the 95 files must be disclosed, in full, to ensure both a reckoning with our past and send a signal to the Department of Defence and others that we can no longer tolerate a culture of secrecy in our Constitutional democracy. We are proud to work with LHR and a stellar legal team to challenge this injustice.”

The post Defending the right to access apartheid records appeared first on Open Secrets.

The following is a recap of the work we’ve done on the Apartheid banks. Otherwise known as Belgium’s Kredietbank (now known as KBC Group) and its sister bank in Luxembourg (then known as KBL, but changed its name to Quintet Private Bank in 2020 shortly after Open Secrets handed over its docket to the NPA).

These Apartheid banks are responsible for laundering money for the South African apartheid state, that allowed the apartheid regime to secretly buy weapons despite mandatory UN arms sanctions in the 1970s and 1980s. These weapons were essential for the apartheid state’s violent domestic repression, and for the wars and attempts to destabilise other governments and liberation movements in southern Africa.

Not only was the banks’ assistance vital to keeping the apartheid government in power, but they also profited from these transactions – building their companies on the suffering of millions of people. Apartheid is not only evil in practice, but it is also a crime against humanity. This means, like other crimes such as murder, prosecution of aiders and abetters of crimes against humanity can happen at any time, including decades later.

The post Apartheid Banks: Explainer videos appeared first on Open Secrets.

The post Apartheid Banks Docket: Letter to the National Director of Public Prosecutions appeared first on Open Secrets.

The post SARB Files|  Brigadier Johann Philip Derk Blaauw appeared first on Open Secrets.

In April 2021, after a 8-year battle, the SARB finally released the records of Jan Blaauw and Vito Palazzolo to Open Secrets. This is the result of a precedent-setting legal action that ensured the right of all South Africans to access information in the public interest.

The post SARB Files|  Palazzolo appeared first on Open Secrets.

The post Apartheid Banks: NPA Docket appeared first on Open Secrets.

The podcast series “African Voices, African Arguments” features African scholars, writers, policy makers and activists on issues of peace, justice and democracy, and is produced by World Peace Foundation and presented in partnership with African Arguments and The Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University.

Alex de Waal discusses corruption and accountability in the South African context. with Hennie van Vuuren, Director of Open Secrets.

The post Campaigning against corruption: a discussion with Hennie Van Vuuren appeared first on Open Secrets.

The post Justice for apartheid economic crime: Start with the bankers appeared first on Open Secrets.

A corporations and economic crime report

While the reasons for the chasm between the 1% and the poor are many, the crucial factor is a globalised economy, built and maintained by mega-corporations, that entrenches the privilege of the rich. Under a mantle of “confidentiality” and “tax planning”, corporations and the super-wealthy contract financial-services firms to help them avoid paying taxes on their income as the rest of us do. The same contracts are often used to shift and hide the proceeds of grand corruption and corporate fraud – again enabling the theft of resources from people and states across the globe.

 There are perhaps no more important cogs in this system than the Big Four accounting firms. KPMG, PwC, Deloitte, and Ernst & Young (EY) are corporate giants that employ around one million people in roughly 3 000 global offices, including numerous satellite offices in tax havens. While the economic impact of Covid-19 will impact them like much of the private sector, they are cushioned by years of sustained and avaricious profit-taking.

The post CECR Vol.2| The Auditors appeared first on Open Secrets.