Op-eds

State Capture and the failure to implement the Zondo Commission’s recommendations

State-owned petroleum company PetroSA has revealed the extensive potential corruption risks in the murky world of oil and gas.

The R74bn MTN lawsuit – a litmus test for corporate accountability

In April, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) delivered a landmark judgment against the MTN Group, giving the green light for South African courts to hear allegations that it acquired a telecommunications licence in Iran through bribery and corruption.

Nibble the rich? A case for taxing the wealthiest South Africans

Despite loud claims to the contrary, some form of wealth tax in South Africa — especially of the very wealthiest — is both the right thing to do, and possible to achieve.

Injustice and Impunity: Crime and corruption in austerity’s wake

The ongoing failure of South Africa’s investigative bodies and prosecuting authority to secure accountability for high-level corruption and economic crime is one of many serious risks to the country’s future.

Democracy dies behind closed doors — open the Lady R inquiry

Open Secrets has challenged both the South African Presidency and the US government to make public details of the mysterious cargo of the Russian vessel Lady R which docked in Simon’s Town in December 2022.

How Not to Fight State Capture

South Africans must send a clear message to multinational companies around the world: you can no longer bribe your way to contracts, enable corrupt political elites, kill off domestic competitors and destroy our institutions.

Social grant payments are a mess – and the public needs answers from Sassa, Sapo and Postbank

With a reputation of being incapable of managing the technical constraints of its internal systems, it must be questioned why the South African Social Security Agency and the South African Post Office would make Postbank the preferred partner to take over the administration of social grant payments.

When the media lets state capture rogues peddle falsehoods

By Luvo Mnyobe Published in City Press This is how democracy dies. These were my thoughts as I scrolled through Twitter and saw a shameful video of Hlaudi Motsoeneng trying to humiliate senior SABC News journalist Francis Herd. Motsoeneng was appearing on Full View, a prime-time news programme, to give his view of the Judicial…

Prasa’s legacy of whistle-blower victimisation and corruption cover-ups is off the rails

Whistle-blowers continue to be targeted within Prasa, and there is little evidence of effective reform. The result is that working-class commuters continue to be let down by failing infrastructure and almost non-existent rail services.

New dawn or false dawn?

The ANC’s devotion to its policy of cadre deployment is an indication that it values its own power more than the public interest.

Zondo let the State Capture bankers off the hook

How did the State Capture network move billions of rand stolen from the South African people across the globe? The Zondo Commission report provides some of the details of the network of banks who profited from this — but fails to provide any remedy of how to prevent a repetition of these crimes.

Gupta extradition: Time to exit la-la land

City Press | Hennie van Vuuren South Africa must be wary of the motive and intentions of the UAE on the Gupta matter, writes Hennie van Vuuren. The arrest and detention of Atul and Rajesh Gupta in Dubai is the first step in what could be an epic battle to bring home two of the…

The toxic chocolatier – The case for prosecuting Glencore executives

Daily Maverick| By Michael Marchant and Hennie van Vuuren for Open Secrets 31 May 2022 By pleading guilty to decades of bribery, corruption and price manipulation around the world, Glencore confirmed a poorly kept secret – criminality was a key pillar of the company’s business mode Commodity trading and mining giant Glencore last week admitted…

What’s at stake in the GovChat vs Meta personal information ‘data war’?

What’s at stake in the GovChat vs Meta personal information ‘data war’? Daily Maverick | Abby May and Michael Marchant | 12 April 2022 On 14 March, the Competition Commission of South Africa upheld a complaint by South African tech company GovChat against Meta Platforms Inc and its subsidiaries WhatsApp and Facebook. The commission referred the tech giant…

Inside the reign of Bain

Inside the reign of Bain Financial Mail | Zen Mathe, Investigator at Open Secrets | 13 JANUARY 2022 The consulting firm was present for every step of the dismantling of Sars, from conception, to collusion, to capture. The first report from the Zondo commission into state capture, released on January 4, shines a light on…

The pros and cons of deferred prosecution agreements: Is it a case of justice deferred is justice denied?

The pros and cons of deferred prosecution agreements: Is it a case of justice deferred is justice denied? Daily Maverick| Tabitha Paine and Ra’eesa Pather | 6 January 2022 The first of three reports by the Zondo Commission has proposed using deferred prosecution agreements as a tool to hold companies accountable for wrongdoing in State Capture.…

Inside SA’s welfare-industrial complex

With a new Covid grant, and demand for a basic income grant spiking, companies such as GovChat are getting in on the action. Is SA risking another Net1 debacle?

South Africa’s gold rush to the data digital age: Are we prepared and are we protected?

Daily Maverick | Abby May| 24 June 2021 With the move of government departments to digitisation, private companies creating the digital infrastructure will have access to millions of South Africans’ data. Many will undoubtedly seek to monetise that access. Abby May is an intern at Open Secrets. In late 2020 South African credit bureau agency Experian…

South Africa is putting profit before Yemeni lives

Aljazeera | Michael Marchant & Zen Mathe | 19 April 2021 The South African state has abandoned its commitment to human rights to profit from weapons deals. In so doing, it has become complicit in war crimes in Yemen. Democratic South Africa’s commitment to human rights has never been solely inward-looking. Its constitutional order was…

McKinsey and other State Capture enablers: Paying back fees is not enough

Daily Maverick | Michael Marchant |15 December 2020 | The Zondo Commission has a vital role to play in advancing the public’s understanding of private corporations’ role in State Capture. It is the commission’s duty and well within its powers to compel banking executives, lawyers, consultants and auditors to appear before it and answer questions…

Dirty Banks: Oops, they’ve done it again!

1 October 2020 | Daily Maverick | Mamello Mosiana and Michael Marchant | Banks are an essential cog in a global money-laundering architecture that enables the corrupt and criminal to disguise and hide the proceeds of their crimes. New revelations from the US reveal the depths of the problem of banks laundering money and the…

Steinhoff: in the dark, still

Michael Marchant | Business Live | 27 August 2020 | Nearly three years after Steinhoff’s finances were exposed as a sham and the company lost nearly all its value overnight, it is offering shareholders and former partners a settlement agreement. Facing legal claims for over R130bn, Steinhoff’s management is proposing a R16bn settlement, payable in…

Why we have complained to the Chief Justice about Judges Willie Seriti and Hendrick Musi

Open Secrets & Shadow World Investigations | Daily Maverick | 20 August 2020 | Our complaint has been submitted in line with the Judicial Services Act which allows for complaints to be filed where judges are guilty of either ‘gross misconduct’ or ‘gross incompetence’, among other things. We have submitted a complaint to the Chief…

Countless South Africans are owed pension benefits, and yet claiming is a constant battle

Mamello Mosiana | Daily Maverick | 17 June 2020 | While few immediately associate youth issues with pensions, the reality is that many young people actively participate in and even depend on the pensions industry. This includes their participation in the ongoing struggle of millions to access more than R42-billion in pension benefits owed to…

The Unpaid Pensions Youth- the Millions Beyond the Bottom Line

16 June 2020 | Mamello Mosiana | While few immediately associate youth issues with pensions, the reality is that many young people both actively participate in, and depend on, the pensions industry. This includes their participation in the ongoing struggle of millions to access over R42 billion in pension benefits owed to individuals and families,…

HENNIE VAN VUUREN & MIKE MARCHANT: Is Tito Mboweni asleep at the wheel?

Business Live | 11 June 2020 | Questionable appointments, or failure to appoint people, remain a blot on the finance minister’s copybook. It raises the question: has he lost interest? Tito Mboweni is a politician wrapped in contradiction. He clearly thrives on the warm affirmation he elicits from his 778,000 Twitter followers. He knows how…

A recent court ruling could see many dark apartheid-era secrets coming to light

Geraldine Frieslaar and Hennie van Vuuren| Daily Maverick | 5 June 2020| Good news and glimmers of hope are in short supply these days. This is perhaps all the more reason to take note of a recent precedent-setting court judgement. In the past week, feisty pint-sized civil society organisations prevailed against the mighty South African…

The Tim Modise Syndicate With Mike Marchant

10 May 2020 | You may be facing hardship but what if you’re owed money? Michael Marchant of Open Secrets of tells me there’s R43b in retirement funds owing to 5m beneficiaries & they don’t know about it. Find out how you can claim in this podcast.

Unpaid Pension Benefits: The billions that could help millions face Covid-19 fallout

Michael Marchant | Daily Maverick | 8 May 2020 | In the context of a strained fiscus and a dysfunctional social security agency – freeing up private assets that are owed to poor and vulnerable individuals could also go a long way to supporting the increase in social welfare grants. It is in this context…

Six critical areas civil society are pushing the Zondo commission to crack down on

Naushina Rahim | News24 | 18 March 2020 The reality of the modern globalised and financialised world is that corruption on a grand scale, along with organised crime and state capture, is enabled by skilled professionals, including bankers, lawyers, accountants and consultants writes Naushina Rahim ‘An Agenda for Action’ was submitted almost a month ago…

Why amnesty for state capture won’t work

Hennie van Vuuren | Financial Mail | 12 March 2020 Last week, lawyer Robert Appelbaum floated the idea of an amnesty for perpetrators of state capture. It’s a short-sighted idea, designed to appease the powerful and corrupt, says Open Secrets’ Hennie van Vuuren In the home of Joburg-based corporate lawyer Robert Appelbaum hangs a portrait…

MICHAEL MARCHANT: No accountability at Liberty Life

After hounding out the whistleblower who exposed Liberty Life’s disastrous pension fund cancellations programme, the insurer has sat on its hands. It is extraordinary to see how pension industry insiders leap to defend insurance behemoth Liberty Life for its scandalous handling of the unlawful cancellation of hundreds of pension funds. A recent investigative report by…

Apartheid’s banks no closer to facing justice

Tabitha Paine | Lee-Ann Bruce Without the help of European banks, the apartheid government would not have been able to buy arms and continue its campaign of violence and oppression. Between 1977 and 1994, countless people lost their lives while the banks essentially profited from their deaths. What can be done to hold the banks…

A first step towards justice for South African pensioners

Between 2007 and 2013, more than 6,000 pension funds in South Africa were cancelled in a process littered with errors and oversights. Today, Open Secrets has written to five of the country’s largest pension fund administrators to demand swift action to reinstate pension funds that have been incorrectly cancelled. This is the first of many…

Ramaphosa’s Investment Drive, For Whom?

South Africa’s history is one of rapacious profit-taking by corporate elites at the expense of South African people and its environment. Whether it was the Dutch East India Company, Anglo-American and De Beers, or Lonmin, the rules of the game have for too long been set to enable extraction and profit-taking that has entrenched gross…

A message to Armscor: Come clean about apartheid secrets and help save R8bn

A large shipment of 50 ‘Super Puma’ helicopter ‘kits’, sent to South Africa from French arms company Aerospatiale via Portugal, was typical of apartheid-era covert sanctions-busting deals. Now that news has broken that a Portuguese arms trader wants his R8bn commission for the deal, isn’t it about time to free the apartheid archive, open the…

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…

South Africa needs a way of dealing with private sector crimes

The People’s Tribunal on Economic Crime has the potential to reshape the trajectory of how we conceptualise economic crime and the role of the private sector. South Africans have been staggering through multiple exposés on private and public sector corruption over the past few months alone, be it allegations of looting of public funds by…

People’s Tribunal sends strong message against impunity in private sector

Why are government failures so distinctly imprinted in the public’s memories, while outrage over private sector corruption enjoys a much shorter lifespan? If you listen carefully to the findings of the first People’s Tribunal on Economic Crime, held at Constitution Hill last month, you will hear a common refrain: The private sector has aided and abetted…

Whistle-blowers’ courage is undermined by FSCA being let off the hook

In a disappointing decision a majority of seven justices rejected the appeal of whistle-blower Rosemary Hunter and found that the Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA) did not need to undertake further investigation into the unlawful cancellation of thousands of pension funds.

Taking the fight against apartheid’s bankers to their backyard

Michael Marchant | Khuraisha Patel 19 April 2018 Global corporations which propped up the apartheid regime and profited in return have not been held to account. This remains a central challenge in terms of the unfinished business of South Africa’s transition to democracy. Starting on 24 April, as South Africa prepares to commemorate 24 years…

What you need to know about investigations of apartheid corruption

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…

Op-eds

Opinions and commentaries from the Open Secrets team