A Year In Review: There Was Plenty More In 2024

These days, it can be tempting to focus only on the negative. As South Africans, we’ve had, after all, another rather challenging year. And I’m not suggesting we don’t acknowledge the bad things that have happened. But I think it’s also important not to let them completely overshadow the positive aspects of the year.

Fraud and Corruption in South Africa: What Have We Learned

This quote from their 2023 paper, The World’s Anti-Corruption Efforts Need a Reset, sums up exactly where we’re going wrong in our efforts to fight fraud and corruption in South Africa.
We need to combat the grass roots behaviour that promotes corruption in our country if we are ever to stand a chance of winning this seemingly unwinnable war.
 
 

Mathews Phosa: A Legacy Of Leadership And Change

Witness to Power: A Political Memoir, is a compelling introduction to what is being lauded as a candid look into this influential man’s journey through the many dramatic and often turbulent changes in political power that have characterised much of South Africa’s recent history.
Described as a “gripping story of underground activities, military operations, negotiations, political conflict and intrigue."

Black Friday Survival Guide: 10 Ways to Outsmart Scammers

Love it or hate it, Black Friday has become a regular part of our lives.
It’s become a global phenomenon that has retailers rubbing their hands together in greedy glee.
Every year, millions of South Africans are seduced by the siren song of delicious discounts and the promise of eternal smugness at not only getting our Christmas shopping done early but saving heaps of money in the process.

The Scourge of Pharmeceutical Drug Counterfeiting in Africa

Africa is a continent beset by poverty and disease. It should come as no surprise, then, that it’s also the continent with one of the highest incidences of counterfeit pharmaceutical use in the world. Because when you or someone in your family is ill, and you can’t afford, or don’t have access to, legitimate medication, choosing all-too-readily-available fake drugs is very often your only option.
It’s also so often a tragic one.

Gone too soon - A tribute to Tito Mboweni

Tito Mboweni was one of South Africa’s most respected politicians and a hugely influential economic policymaker. He was responsible for several significant economic and labour reforms.
 
 

A Formidable Force. Remembering Former Judge Willem Heath

Willem Heath's son, Marius, reflected on the many tributes that have poured in for his late father.
“Being a pioneer in [our] government’s anti-corruption architecture and in the early life of our democracy…being the peoples’ judge. That is one of the most beautiful things ever bestowed upon him,” he said. “My father would have been greatly humbled by the recognition.”

Underage And Underground – The Plight Of Africa’s Child Miners

Robbed of their childhoods and forced into child labour, children are unwilling warriors in the fight against generational poverty. Almost a third of African children are physically and mentally underdeveloped. In Sub-Saharan Africa, one in 11 children will die before their 5th birthday.

The Stolen Billions. Imagine The Suffering This Money Could Have Relieved!

One and a half TRILLION Rand. That’s how much South Africa lost to corruption in just five years, from 2014 to 2019.
And yet, as eye-watering as that figure is, it’s only the proverbial tip of the ship-sinking iceberg formed by corruption, “irregular expenditure,” theft and general mismanagement.

Rising Above The Storm: South Africa's Fight Against Financial Crime

Picture a nation where criminals operate with near impunity, where sophisticated syndicates extort millions through kidnappings, and where the guardians of justice are overwhelmed and underfunded. This isn't the plot of a crime novel; it's the reality facing South Africa today.
Experts paint a stark picture: South Africa has exceptionally low conviction rates for even the most heinous violent crimes.