WEEKLY CORRUPTION WATCH UPDATE

WEEKLY CORRUPTION WATCH UPDATE.

Weekly Corruption Watch update.

This weekly update alerts you to the latest corruption news articles, trends, and topics. Our team of researchers and reporters provide original newsworthy stories and analysis on corruption. Newsroom reporters, news editors, and editors are encouraged and permitted to republish the content.

LATEST NEWS

Will the president finally cut out the rot, asks CW?

President Cyril Ramaphosa campaigned, and his party won the 2019 general election, on his record of tackling corruption in the 15 months following the demise of the corrupt Zuma regime, and on his commitment to intensify the fight against corruption following this election. He has now received a mandate from the electorate and Corruption Watch eagerly awaits clear evidence of his commitment to tackle corruption.

Based on our experience, we recommend the following priorities to the new administration:

Provide the resources and political support necessary for a robust, independent and effective National Prosecuting Authority;
Rid the cabinet of those serving ministers who are neither fit nor proper to serve in their high public offices and do not appoint to cabinet those on the governing party’s parliamentary list who are alleged to have been implicated in corruption;
Prioritise tackling corruption in those sectors that provide basic goods and services, in particular policing, public healthcare, energy, transport and education;
Urgently review the processes for appointments to public office. In particular introduce transparency into the processes governing the appointments of the heads of the South African Revenue Services, the National Prosecuting Authority, the commissioner and deputy commissioners of the South African Police Service, the Independent Police Investigating Directorate, the Chapter 9 institutions and the boards of state-owned enterprises. We particularly note President Ramaphosa’s recent commitment “… to appoint men and women who have dedicated themselves to work for the interests of our people, men and women who are capable, who have great energy, who are visionaries, men and women who know their story – not those who don’t know whether they are coming or going”;
Take ownership of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy and promote public awareness and political support for this strategy.

David Lewis, executive director of Corruption Watch, commented: “While there is clearly much else that needs to be done, we believe that the priorities that we have identified are all within the immediate power of the president to effect. The ANC lost votes because of the corruption of the Zuma administration. We believe that it has nevertheless managed to secure another mandate to govern, largely on the basis of Ramaphosa’s commitment to tackle corruption.”

In holding Ramaphosa to account for that commitment, Lewis added, Corruption Watch will remain as vigilant as it was during the Zuma regime. “A government is only as good as its people are demanding.”

Uncooperative education depts stall CW investigations

When we investigate a report, it is of paramount importance for us to give a right of reply to anyone implicated. However, this comes with a lot of waiting and non-responses, especially from government departments, and the Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDOE) is no exception. It is not unheard of for them to fail to respond to our queries, from giving us the run-around to unanswered phone calls and e-mails – as seen in the following two cases implicating their employees in mismanagement of funds at two different schools.

Corruption Watch (CW) received a report alleging corruption and misuse of funds at Mt Zion Junior Secondary School in Bizana. The report described the principal’s alleged questionable conduct and lack of accountability, including

Withdrawing large sums of money from the school’s bank account without the needed authorisation from the school governing body (SGB) – the money was withdrawn for personal use and the principal also procured goods for personal use at the school’s expense.

Withholding the school’s financial records from the SGB – for this conduct the principal was reported to the ECDOE and removed from Mt Zion, only to be was placed at Bizana District Office with full pay.

The South African Schools’ Act 84 of 1996, together with SGB regulations, places the duty of handling the school’s finances on the SGB, while Section 52(a) and (b) of the regulations relating to SGBs further emphasises that the SGB is responsible for the handling of school financial affairs.

Grievances submitted to the Bizana District Office against the principal were ignored. The department failed to adhere to two deadlines given to them, and follow-up e-mails and phone calls were fruitless.

Criminal charges were laid under case number CAS169/92/2014 at Bizana police station, but the South African Police Service (Saps) declined to investigate the matter for reasons not stated – instead they advised that the matter be reported to the provincial education department. It is unclear why Saps refused to investigate a matter of such importance, but what is certain is that lack of action from entrusted bodies like the police service opens doors for more corruption.

CW is in possession of Mt Zion’s bank statements for the 2014/2015 financial year and these show cheques written for large amounts and drawn in the names of two beneficiaries. These transactions seemed dodgy because the sums involved were large and were withdrawn in a short period of time. In addition, the beneficiaries appear to be the same in most of these transactions.

The ECDOE not only refused to act decisively on the matter when it was reported by the whistle-blower, but on numerous occasions the community of Mt Zion also submitted their grievances against the principal to the District Office – where they were allegedly told to stop interfering with government issues. This led to the community taking the matter to the Office of the Public Protector, which requested that the community members submit a letter from the District Office acknowledging that they had started there. However, the Bizana District Office refused to release the letter, and the matter remains unresolved, thanks to continued obstruction by the provincial education department.

EDUCATION DEPT IGNORES MISUSE OF SCHOOL MONEY

A report involving the Eastern Cape’s Luzupho Junior Secondary School implicates the principal of the school on financial irregularities. The report also alleges that the principal allowed a former SGB member to sign cheques while the latter was no longer part of the SGB. The matter was reported to the provincial Department of Education and nothing was done.

During the course of our investigation CW tried several times and through several means to get hold of the ECDOE, with no luck. Departmental spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima could also not be reached on his official cell phone, and one individual who answered the phone at the ECDOE aggressively said he did not know who Mtima is and could not help us, before dropping the call. This was yet another brick wall that we could not climb over.

COURT RULING OF NO CONCERN TO EDUCATION DEPT

We received a report from a concerned community member about Sizani Primary School in Mpumalanga, alleging contempt of court by the Mpumalanga Department of Education’s (MDoE) district director and circuit manager. The duo allegedly employed a Ms NE Mahlangu as the school’s deputy principal without following proper procedure.

According to the report, the MDoE advertised a post for head of department some years ago but failed to advertise the post for deputy principal. The principal of the school contacted the circuit manager regarding the issue but the circuit office failed to assist her.

The report also alleges that neither the principal nor the school governing body (SGB) were consulted or informed by the MDoE when appointing the deputy principal.

The principal subsequently received a letter of suspension from the district director for gross insubordination and was later found guilty of various charges

she failed to carry out a lawful order to accept Mahlangu as the deputy principal by walking out on the circuit manager who was addressing her on the transfer of Mahlangu, she failed to conduct herself in a proper manner she refused to allocate office space to Mahlangu; an also refused to allocate office work to Mahlangu.

SGB members took the matter further by applying to the North Gauteng High Court to have the appointment reviewed. The matter went to the High Court and the Court ordered the MDoE to review the appointment of Mahlangu and re-advertise the post.

The final disciplinary hearing against the principal found her not guilty, yet the deputy principal still holds her position at Sizani Primary School while the court had recommended a re-advertisement of the post. In 2018 we sent a detailed query to the MDoE, asking for clarification on this matter, but never received a response.

INVESTIGATION PROVIDES EVIDENCE, BUT NOTHING IS DONE

CW received a report from a concerned parent about Mabushe High School in Limpopo. The report alleged mismanagement of funds at the school, involving the former acting school principal, the former school principal, and SGB members as well as teachers.

The matter was reported to the Department of Education, Thabina circuit, for investigation. A subsequent report revealed that there were financial irregularities reported by the school’s financial officers, but no action was taken.

The investigation also found that meetings were held at the school for the sole purpose of exhausting and abusing school funds. The acting and former school principals were asked to provide an explanation in respect of monies collected by the school in December 2014, January 2015 and February 2015. Based on these findings, the report recommended that individuals involved in the school’s administration and governance should attend a training workshop and implicated individuals should pay back the money.

Questions sent to the Limpopo Department of Education (LDOE) on whether the recommendations made by the report were implemented, went unanswered. A circuit manager at Thabina, one SBT Kgomo, responded by e-mail saying he was on sick leave and could not respond to the matter – but he failed to provide details of someone who could assist on the department’s behalf. Kgomo failed to return e-mails sent to him after his sick leave had ended.

Non-compliance is the biggest issue here; it makes government departments a breeding ground for corruption because not complying means no one will be held accountable. As we carry out our mandate to bring corruption into the light, the ECDOE and LDOE have hindered us every step of the way from carrying out that mandate, and also prevented us from finding out what happened in these schools.

The ultimate losers, sadly, are the children.

Trust inequality at all-time high globally

The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer (ETB) reveals that trust levels have changed significantly in the past year. The ETB measures levels of trust in four main institutions – business, the government, media, and NGOs – in 27 countries around the world. A further 15 sectors, ranging from entertainment and automotive to energy and financial services, are also surveyed.

Respondents are asked how much they trust the four main institutions to do what is right. It polls two broad population groups for their levels of trust: the informed public – those meeting the criteria of age 25-64, college educated, in the top 25% of household income, and having high engagement with media – and the mass population, who represent the vast majority of the global population, or 84%.

Levels of trust are determined on a scale from 0% (least trusting) to 100% (most trusting), and are placed into three bands – distrustful, neutral, and trusting.

The report is published by communications and public relations group Edelman.

With a focus in 2019 on the employer-employee relationship, Edelman found that globally, ‘my employer’ (75%) is far more trusted than NGOs (57%), business (56%), government (48%) and media (47%).

China is once again at the top of the overall trust index with both groups, while Russia is at the bottom.

TRUST GAP WIDENS

This year, the gap in trust between the informed and mass populations has opened to its widest ever, at 16 points. Edelman attributes this to jumps in trust amongst the informed, while the mass population’s trust levels remained relatively flat. The gap is severe in developed nations, Edelman notes (UK – 24 percentage points; Canada – 20 points; France – 18 points; US – 13 points) and has now moved into the developing world (India – 17 points; China – 12 points).

Gender also contributes to the trust gap, and this can be seen in the large gender trust gap in several developed markets, such as Germany (12 points) and the US (11 points), mostly driven by women’s lower trust in business. Globally, the average trust percentages for women and men are 50 and 55 respectively.

In terms of the two groups of respondents, overall South Africa’s informed public is more trusting at 53%, with the mass population at 45%. China tops the list with both groups (79% and 88% respectively). Globally, the average is 63% for the informed public and 52% for the general population.

Angel Gurría, secretary-general of the OECD, remarked at the time of the ETB’s release: “At the OECD, we see immense opportunities for the public sector to regain citizens’ trust. It requires investing in good public governance and moving towards a more inclusive society.”

EMPLOYERS MUST ALSO WORK TOWARDS CHANGE

CEOs are expected to lead the fight for change. More than 75% of respondents say they want CEOs to take the lead on change instead of waiting for government to impose it, and 71% of employees believe it’s critically important for ‘my CEO’ to respond to challenging times.

Such activism will yield rewards – 73% believe a company can take actions that both increase profits and improve economic and social conditions in the community where it operates.

Employees expect prospective employers to actively join them in advocating for social issues (67%). Companies that do are rewarded with greater commitment (83%), advocacy (78%) and loyalty (74%) from their employees.

GOVERNMENTS DISTRUSTED GLOBALLY

Globally, the general population showed the least trust in governments at 47%, while the informed public are somewhat more trusting, at 58%. South Africa has never put in a good showing in this category, having debuted on the ETB in 2014 with an unimpressive 17% of respondents saying they trusted the government.

Things have not improved since those days. In 2016 the government’s trust rating slipped to 16% – making the South African government the least trusted of those polled.

In 2017 that already meagre percentage dropped to 15% and in 2018 it was 14%, far below the global average of 43%. In 2019 South Africa’s government is once again the least trusted of all countries polled – just 21% of respondents trust the government to do the right thing. This is a seven-point increase from last year, but not enough to lift South Africa out of last place. The global average is 47%.

The most trusted government in 2018 was that of China, with 84%. This year China’s government has again topped the list, at 86%, followed by the UAE at 82% and Indonesia at 75%.

OTHER INSTITUTIONS

South Africans are highly trusting of NGOs, at 60%. This narrowly lifts South Africa out of the ‘neutral’ band and into the ‘trusting’ band.

In terms of business, South Africa falls into the neutral category, at 58%, and it is firmly untrusting of media, at 41%.

However, South Africa is not alone in this situation. “The last decade has seen a loss of faith in traditional authority figures and institutions,” said Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman. “More recently, people have lost confidence in the social platforms that fostered peer-to-peer trust. These forces have led people to shift their trust to the relationships within their control, most notably their employers.”

FAKE NEWS STILL A CONCERN

In 2018 NGOs were the most trusted institution, at an average of 53%, and media was the least trusted, at 43%. This year is no different, with NGOs trusted by 57% and media by just 47%, while trust in business and government stands at 56% and 48% respectively.

In terms of the specific types of media, traditional media and search engines are most trusted (65% each), the highest historical ever levels for each, and driven by large increases in developed markets. Conversely, social media is the least trusted (43%), especially in several developed regions that show enormous trust gaps between traditional and social media (U.S./Canada, 31-point gap; Europe, 26-point gap).

MORE ON CORRUPTION

Battling corruption in Indonesia’s elections

On April 17, Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, held the biggest and most-complex single-day elections in world history: 193 million registered voters, 20,500 candidates, and 800,000 polling booths. It was the first time Indonesia held presidential, legislative, and provincial and local elections at the same time.

Turnout, especially among millennials, exceeded expectations, with 80 percent of eligible voters casting ballots. But an overwhelming turnout alone does not necessarily make for a successful, democratic election. While the largely free and fair vote has been lauded as a logistical success, there are teetering issues that Indonesian authorities must address before the next election. In particular, too many Indonesian voters did not have access to reliable information about the candidates running in legislative races.

Voters had to mark five separate ballots: one for the presidential race, a second and third for Indonesia’s national parliamentary chambers (the DPR and DPD), and a fourth and fifth for provincial and municipal legislative councils. With 19 political parties contesting the elections and squeezing in as many as seven candidates per race, Indonesian ballots became as cumbersome as old-time folding road maps. This created two challenges. Gathering basic information about the background and political platforms of close to 200 candidates per seat proved a difficult — and time-draining — feat for even the most politically savvy voters. Voters also struggled to figure out how to fold the ballot tightly enough to fit into the slot of the ballot box.

Simultaneous elections had another troubling side-effect. The presidential race between the incumbent Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto largely eclipsed the legislative races. And the legions of candidates running in legislative races overwhelmed efforts by civil society organizations to monitor the transparency of the elections.

This is problematic, considering that Indonesia ranks a dismal 89th out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. Weeks before the election, in the basement of Bowo Sidik Pangarso, a member of parliament seeking re-election, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) seized six storage boxes containing more than 400,000 envelopes containing 20,000 Indonesian rupiahs – suspected bribes for voters. This was no isolated incident, but part of a systemic problem. Cash handouts of cash and gifts are commonplace, and even expected, in legislative races in Indonesia.

Eliminating vote-buying and candidacy-buying in parliamentary races is crucial for the sustainability of Indonesian democracy. Civil society organizations should be on the frontlines of the fight against corruption and oligarchy in Indonesia, and around the world.

Helping voters access information about the positions and integrity of candidates for parliament is a necessary first step.

To achieve this goal, Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) developed rekamjejak.net, the country’s first comprehensive database of parliamentary candidates. In addition to providing basic information on candidates, like their estimated wealth and business links, rekamjejak.net helps voters learn whether or not incumbents have had corruption charges levied against them during their time in parliament.

Such oversight efforts are of crucial importance to the health of Indonesia’s democracy. The Indonesian parliament is the second least-trusted public institution in Indonesia — and rightly so. Since the last elections in 2014, the KPK has brought corruption charges against 240 sitting members of parliament at all levels.

Since its launch, rekamjejak.net has reached over 3.4 million voters, providing them with the information they need to make an educated choice at the polls. Creative partnerships were crucial to its success. By working with Indonesian public figures, as well as the Election Commission and the KPK, rekamjejak.net was able to harness the potential of technology to reach voters throughout Indonesia – a difficult feat in an archipelago nation of 17,000 islands, home to over 300 ethnic groups.

Online platforms like rekamjejak.net also proved to be a useful way of galvanizing first-time voters — a group numbering 17 million in this election cycle, almost twice the population of Jakarta. As in many other democracies, political apathy is an issue gripping Indonesian millennials. A survey published by the IDN Research Institute in January 2019 showed that only 23 percent of young people kept up with politics. As the share of millennial voters continues to grow, civil society should embrace the power of technology to engage young generations of voters and help them realize that their vote can make a difference.

Indonesian voters deserve a more transparent and accountable parliament. With the right information, the power to achieve this is in their hands.

MANISHANKAR

CEO-ANTI-CORRUPTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT®-CHENNAI

Email: anticorruption.org2007@gmail.com.

Mobile: 91 9087856137

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