The Titanic's Smartest Passenger

Jenny the cat was the Titanic's mascot, brought on board to help control rodents. She lived in the ship's galley and was cared for by a labourer named Jim Mulholland.During sea trials, Jenny gave birth to kittens and Jim found them a cosy spot next to the ship's galley. Caring for the mother cat and her kittens broke the monotony of Jim's work preparing the Titanic for its maiden voyage. Jenny seemed content with her warm spot near the boilers, her babies, and the scraps from the galley that Jim brought her. However, soon after the ship docked at Southampton, England, just before embarking on its maiden voyage (to New York), Jenny took a good look around and quickly started grabbing her kittens by the neck and carrying them off. One by one, down the gangway she took them off the ship. Jim watched her carefully and realized that "this cat must know something others don't!" He then quickly gathered his belongings and left the ship as well. Click the link to read the full article - https://lnkd.in/ducCvT76

Fort Hare: Forensic Investigators Under Fire

Sanity (and justice) have prevailed! At the end of last month, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) withdrew controversial fraud charges against forensic lawyer Sarah Burger, the former lead investigator who uncovered evidence of massive wrongdoings at the University of Fort Hare.
Sarah and her colleague, Bradley Conradie, are directors at Horizon Forensics, the company appointed by the University in 2018 to investigate suspected incidents of academic fraud and financial mismanagement.
Since then, they’ve launched multiple investigations (many alongside the Special Investigations Unit – SIU) that have exposed syndicates involving university staff, politically connected individuals, and local businesses.In the wake of their findings, about 40 University employees have either been dismissed, or have resigned, and 20 cases have been referred to the Hawks for further investigation.
Despite all their efforts, however, they received a frustrating lack of support from the police, saying it was “incomprehensible” that not a single arrest has been made relating to any of the cases they’d referred to the SAPS in the past six years.
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When Donald Says Jump, Should South Africa Duck?

The decision that will define South Africa's future isn't being made in Cape Town. The US-South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act would give President Trump power to sanction government leaders deemed corrupt or too cosy with China and Russia.
President Ramaphosa and other senior ANC figures are reportedly in the crosshairs.
The irony is stark: sanctions once used to topple apartheid could now target the very party they helped elevate. Whether you view this as foreign interference or legitimate anti-corruption pressure, one thing is certain – the implications stretch far beyond individual politicians to the entire US-South Africa relationship and if passed, the fallout could impact all South Africans.
 
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https://lnkd.in/gAvcSrYP

Whistleblowers: The Unsung Heroes In The Fight Against Fraud

Whistleblowers—those individuals brave enough to speak up against wrongdoing—are a critical yet vulnerable element in the chain of accountability. Without them, many of the most consequential fraud cases would never come to light.Fraud and corruption continue to pose serious threats to the integrity of public and private institutions across South Africa. While internal controls, audits, and compliance frameworks play a role in mitigating this risk, one of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal is often overlooked: the whistleblower.According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, over 40% of all fraud cases are detected through tip-offs—far surpassing any other method. These insiders see what others cannot. They witness misconduct firsthand, and they often have access to documents and communications that are pivotal in proving wrongdoing.Click below to read the full article
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whistleblowers-unsung-heroes-fight-against-fraud-jacques-van-wyk-kojqc/?trackingId=oEudzLVf2K7QdIM7TYfe%2FA%3D%3D

How To Build A South Africa Worth Staying For

South Africans have been leaving in significant numbers since 1994, when fear and uncertainty over what the future might look like in “the new South Africa” had thousands “packing for Perth.”People leave the countries of their birth all the time, for multiple reasons. It’s seldom a decision taken lightly, and even those who leave as refugees, forced from their homes through life-threatening conflict, do so with heavy hearts, while still holding onto a fierce, if faint, hope that one day, they might return.South Africa, somehow, feels different. We aren’t technically at war, but we are without doubt a conflicted country.Exact numbers are hard to come by, but estimates say between 1.15 and 1.55 million South Africans have emigrated in the past 30 years.Although this so-called Brain Drain slowed towards the end of the millennium, the past few years have seen it slowly creeping up again. Skilled South Africans are seemingly always looking for ways to escape the very real challenges of rampant crime, an unstable electricity supply, declining public service delivery and economic uncertainty, among others.And yet, there are many others who are staying put, determined to build a country people want to live in.Click on the link to read the full article - https://lnkd.in/ddS2NTdZ

The Deadly Cost of Telling The Truth

The senseless and cowardly assassination of one of the forensic investigation profession’s most courageous souls both saddens and outrages me. It is obviously a tragic personal loss to his loved ones, but it is also a searing blow to all who believe in integrity, accountability and justice.I’ve written previously on the increasing number of deadly attacks on whistleblowers in South Africa who risked everything to expose corruption, often at the highest levels. But the recent murder of fellow professional Mpho Kabasi Mafole hit me harder than most.Mpho was the Group Divisional Head of Corporate and Group Forensic Audits at the City of Ekurhuleni. He stood fearlessly on the frontlines of one of the most difficult and dangerous battles in our country - the fight against corruption. His death is a stark reminder of the very real and present danger faced by the brave men and women who dedicate their lives to exposing the truth and challenging entrenched wrongdoing.At his recent funeral, Ekurhuleni mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza hinted that his murder could be linked to the City’s R2bn revenue shortfall and the controversial R190m refurbishing of a building in Germiston that to date has cost the city over R300m. There has, at the time of writing, been no official confirmation or denial of this veiled allegation.Click below to read the full articlehttps://lnkd.in/gfhGrz6Y

Is the civil service wage balloon about to pop?

Earn more, do less…nice work if you can get it!South Africa has the third-highest government wage bill of 20 major global economies when taken as a share of GDP. That’s according to studies by both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. That means we spend more on paying our civil servants than the UK, US, Australia and Japan, all of which have economies far greater than ours, and infrastructure and service delivery levels many levels higher.Adding insult to injury is the fact that South Africa’s public servants are due to receive a 5.5% salary increase in the current financial year, costing thegovernment (well, actually, the taxpayer) R23.3 billion over the next threeyears. This is just the latest in a long history of salaries that have increased fasterthan headline inflation, putting huge strain on the government’s finances.Click below to read the full article:https://lnkd.in/d5Veuagx

South Africa: A Country of Contradictions

On paper, South Africa is a model country. Our Constitution is widely regarded as one of the most progressive and transformative in the world, noted particularly for its emphasis on human rights and equality. Our Constitutional court is also globally respected, hailed for its robust application of local and international laws to interpret and protect people’s rights.Our Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and outlaws racism and sexism. In 2006, for example, South Africa became the first country in Africa – and only the 5th in the world – to legalise same-sex marriage.And yet, our own President, Cyril Ramaphosa, recently admitted that “There is a disconnect between the Constitution and the lived reality of South Africans.” He made the remark in a keynote address marking the 30th anniversary of the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg last month.He went on to say, “The reality we must confront is that there are significant challenges with constitutionalism today. The promise of the Constitution is far from fully realised. Persistent inequality, threats to judicial independence, lack of implementation of court orders, and erosion of trust in institutions remain pressing challenges.”Which leaves us asking, “what good is a world-leading constitution if it cannot be implemented?”It’s just one of many contradictions that plague South Africa. Unfortunately, there are many others.Click on the link below to read the full article: https://lnkd.in/dPw3wvnF

It is high time our leaders up their game

It’s already been a bumper year for South African sport and we’re only halfway through 2025! Our sportsmen and women have excelled across the board, from cricket and rugby to surfing and the Comrades marathon.If excellence is possible in sport, why not in governance?Click below to read the full articlehttps://lnkd.in/dQmck54c#sport #southafrica #springboks #springboksupporter🇿🇦 #proteascricket #cricket #leadership #governance

Love Me Tender

I’ve already written about the ongoing deterioration of Johannesburg twice this year, but, like your favourite Golden Oldies radio station, the hits just keep on coming.The latest in the apparent laundry list of “you can’t make this up” issues is the response by Johannesburg city spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane when challenged on the awarding of massive transport contracts (valued at R972 million) to politically connected families.“The metro government sees no problem and will not investigate,” he said.This response came despite multiple concerns from the Auditor General, civic watchdogs, and political parties.The issue concerns six contracts given in 2023 for the extension of the BRT/Rea Vaya bus system. They were all awarded to the families of city councillors and officials.The extension project is already eight years behind schedule, and its final deadline for the end of last year was also missed.Yet Modingoane remains resolute. “There is no regulatory provision that prohibits the Municipality to award contracts to the category of people in question (spouse, child or parent of a person in service of state either actively or in the past twelve months),” he said. “Therefore, the question whether the City failed in oversight and due diligence is misplaced.”He appears to be the only one with this opinion.Click the link to read the full article - https://lnkd.in/dpAi-pr4