Diepsloot is not far from Montacasino. Those familiar with Gautengs landscape will know that one could, in theory, roll a coin from the doorstep of Montacasino - the fake Italian village dr aped around a casino presumably named after the site of a famous WWII battle - and it would land at a random doorstep in one of the poorest communities in Gauteng - Diepsloot. This is however unlikely ever to happen, not because the traffic to the mall or the gated community at Dainfern presents an obstacle, but because inevitably coins remain in short supply amongst slot machine players and the poker faces sitting around the roulette wheels. Greed is good.

When in July Diepsloot residents took to the streets barricading the R511 road between Jo'burg and Pretoria, setting alight buildings and stoning cars, anger had found expression. Although rumours of relocation to the North West town of Brits had no doubt fuelled uncertainty Gauteng MEC Nomvula Mokonyane identified corruption and the impact it has had on the delivery of housing as one of the main causes of the mayhem (see Social Justice). The billions lost to corrupt practice annually (in both the private and public sector) detrimentally effects human development. What we have seen in Diepsloot is that the way in which afflicted communities and individuals respond can have a profound impact on collective security.

Similarly the unfolding parliamentary travel scam will do little to strengthen public confidence in the National Assembly less than six months after the elections (See National Administration). The greed of those MP's who undertook 'constituency work' from their mobile offices (luxury cars, first class flights and expensive hotels) has not only cost citizens money (+- R17 million at the last count) but also knocked public trust in the integrity of parliament as an institution. These are the parallels between Diepsloot and Parliament. The cost of corruption is more complex than rands and cents - it weakens trust in democratic institutions and instigates social conflict.

Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu appears to be not only tough on service delivery but also on corruption. She has announced new measures to crack down on corrupt activity in the procurement and allocation of housing which is welcomed (see reform). It is important for political leadership to crack the whip where corrupt activity is to be found. In contrast the speaker of Parliament, Baleka Mbete, despite authorising an investigation, did not release the names of the elected officials who were implicated in the travelscam leaving it instead up to the media to print the leaked list. She thereby missed a crucial opportunity to lead from the front.

The Speakers silence on the naming of implicated MP's comes at a time when media reports are increasingly picking up incidences of whistleblowers who have come under fire (See: Industries; Crime & Justice and; Profile). Our political and business leaders need to set the example of exposing corruption and those who have (or are alleged to have) benefited from it. Whistleblowers are often courageous individuals who should be celebrated and not vilified for 'breaking rank'. Without the whistleblowers, we face the real danger of only hearing a chorus of imbongis, something that Deputy Speaker Gwen Mahlangu has, to her credit, warned MP's against (See National Administration). It is the post-1994 impimpi's who have the interests of our democracy at heart, if they are silenced the recent events at Diepsloot may play itself out again and again under different guises across the country. Diepsloot is indeed not far from Montacasino.

This Sunday Times report by Mzilikazi wa Afrika reveals that speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete is also among the 135 MP's who have allegedly contravened parliamentary rules by using parliament's travel vouchers - "intended to be used for official business inside the country" - for personal business. Mbete has reportedly denied any wrongdoing and instead insisted that all her bills - including her daughter's flight from Nanning to Hong Kong and car hires - were settled on her personal accounts.

The speaker of Parliament has provided assurance "that any MP's found guilty of a crime in Parliament's travel scam would face disciplinary measures from the institution itself even if they qualified to stay on as MP's." According to Business Day's Wyndham Hartley Mbete's statement clarifies earlier remarks, which appeared to "imply that those with lesser sentences would be allowed to stay, despite their having defrauded Parliament."
Full Story in Business Day (26 August 2004)

Wisani wa ka Ngobeni reports on the Public Service Commission's investigation of struggle hero and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) CEO Marion Sparg. Sparg, together with other NPA officials, is accused of illegitimately awarding two subcontracts: one to a friend, and another one to her sister's fiance. So far Sparg has denied any wrongdoing as she takes "issues of integrity very seriously." In a follow-up article wa ka Ngobeni further reveals that "Sparg is also being investigated for her role in the awarding of a tender, worth R3,2 million, to a businessman with whom she had prior dealings."
Full Articles in Mail and Guardian (20-26 August and 27 August - 02 September 2004)

Writing in the Cape Times Angela Quintal conveys how new deputy speaker Gwen Mahlangu "urged MPs to take their oversight role seriously and to stop sounding like imbongis (praise singers) for the government." Mahlangu was particularly disturbed by, amongst other things, how MP's tended to be admirers of the executive rather than watchdogs, as well as, how "some MPs used speeches written for them by the very department over which they were expected to have oversight."
Full Article in Cape Times (13 August 2004)

The Mail & Guardian reports on the R3-million defamation lawsuit, which ANC Deputy Secretary General Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele brought against it following a 1998 assessment of her performance as housing minister. Judge Joffe had dismissed her original claim "on the grounds that a Cabinet minister had no locus standi [right to bring action] to sue for damages for defamation where the disputed statement related to the performance of her work as a member of the government and was made without malice". In the wake of this Mthembi-Mahanyele then took the matter to the Supreme Court of Appeal where Judge Lewis also dismissed her appeal, with costs. According to the latter judgement the ruling that Mthembi-Mahanyele as a minister had no locus standi to claim for damages was incorrect. However it was ruled that the Mail and Guardian's publication was justifiable for various reasons, including the fact that "freedom of expression in political discourse is necessary to hold members of the government accountable to the public, and that some latitude must be allowed to allow robust and frank comment in the interest of keeping members of society informed about the government's action."
Full Article in Mail and Guardian (06-12 August 2004)

Ranjeni Munusamy and Janine Stephen have unearthed an inconsistency in Andrew Mlangeni's declaration in the August 2004 parliamentary members interests register. ANC veteran political activist and Rivonia trialist, Mlangeni reportedly listed, under the category "benefits", that "he received a R1, 6 million house and a R320 000 car from mining magnate Brett Kebble" in his capacity as the non-executive chairperson of "the black empowerment mining house Matodzi Resources, of which Kebble is non-executive director." The odd part is that Kebble denies lavishing these luxurious endowments upon Mr Mlangeni.
Full article in This Day (26 August 2004)

Wits University academic Professor Patrick FitzGerald is concerned that corruption among public servants will prove elusive to detect following their unwillingness to "declare their assets, shares and other interests that could be in conflict with their employment contracts." This is according to a report by Moshoeshoe Monare who cites the Financial Disclosures of Heads of Departments and Certain Other Employees Regulations: "any employee who fails to disclose an interest ... or when disclosing an interest ... wilfully provides incorrect or misleading details, is guilty of misconduct." No action has been taken thus far against the 67% of senior public servants who refused to declare their interests. Chairperson of the Public Service Commission Prof. Stan Sangweni reveals that "of the 2000 or so senior public servants, only about 600 registered in the past financial year." Directors-Generals contacted by The Star have however denied that their staff refused to disclose interests. The Star could not verify this claim since public access to the register is not possible.

Writing in the City Press Makhudu Sefara speculates on the likelihood of former Limpopo premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi to succeed Bulelani Ngcuka as the national director of public prosecutions. Major obstacles to the appointment of Ramatlhodi, it is argued, were his R1,3 million Pretoria East house, which Ramatlhodi bought for R1,1 million in 2003 and currently has no bond on it; the fact that "his wealth appears to be out of proportion to his earnings; and that he was too closely associated with people who gained from government property tenders when he was premier." Ramatlhodi has denied having any unexplained wealth, pleading that he lived a "hand-to-mouth" existence.

Matuma Letsoalo writes about a confidential report compiled by Ramathe Fivaz Forensic and Investigative Accounting Services in November 2003, which alleges that Auswell Mashaba, then deputy director of the Mpumalanga public works department, misled his departmental tender committee and the provincial tender board resulting in the awarding of a R10-million provincial government contract to Kwa Mahlaba Connect "to manage telecommunication systems at the Mpumalanga government headquarters in Nelspruit." Kwa Mahlaba Connect is reportedly partly owned by Muzi Cindi, a former Telkom account manager who "was entrusted by Telkom to negotiate an extension of the contract [which it won in 1999] on its behalf ..." Mashaba had recommended Kwa Mahlaba Connect to the manager of the Mpumalanga government complex claiming that it was "an empowerment initiative formed by Telkom and that (it) would be empowered to continue with the project and be assisted by Telkom." Meanwhile, Mashaba had "allegedly informed Telkom that its application had been unsuccessful." The provincial government has recently announced that the Kwa Mahlaba contract will be terminated and that litigation and further investigation into matter are being considered.
Full Article in the Mail and Guardian (20 August 2004)

Thabo Mkhize reports that the pending criminal charges awaiting those found guilty of defrauding the Eastern Cape Education Department of hundreds of million of rands through bogus salary claims. The Department has launched a massive investigation and called in a private team of forensic auditors to investigate reasons why it overspent R500-million on its personnel budget between 1999 and 2003. The figure appears in the Interim Management Team (IMT) report released in August 2004. Mandated by President Thabo Mbeki to improve service delivery in the Eastern Cape, the IMT has uncovered, among other things, "a poor state of management in the [Education] department and the lack of records of financial transactions and payments."

The impoverished Nongoma community in northern KwaZulu-Natal has accused Obed Simelani, Inkatha Freedom Party [IFP] councillor, of allegedly collecting their money for community developments and projects that are supposed to be free of charge. Complaints against Simelani include his failure to turn up at a meeting where he was supposed to say when he would refund the community's money; demanding that pensioners pay R5 condolence for the murdered son of a former MEC; collecting R10 from each household, supposedly to build low-cost housing and install running water in the area, none of which has happened to date; and his inability to give a satisfactory account for the R50 000 which the local district council made available for poultry farming projects. Emmanuel Buthelezi reports that Simelani has however denied these allegations.

Frank Maponya reports on the investigation and suspension of Limpopo's Mopani District Municipality manager, Advocate Chris Maake, on allegations of fraud and corruption. These relate to his abuse of "powers to allocate tenders at the municipality" as well as other things like "insubordination, violation of council decisions and incompetence."
Full Article in Sowetan (02 August 2004)

Documenting an interview between Business Day's Sanchia Temkin and former financial executive of Beige Holdings Andre du Toit who suffered for exposing material irregularities in the company, this piece portrays the "difficulties surrounding whistle-blowing and corporate greed in South Africa." Included among the highlighted issues is the limited court protection for whistle-blowers in SA as well as the inadequacy of the whistle-blowing act.

In this article Chiara Carter reports on how the Scorpions' probe into the infamous travelgate resulted in the discovery of "further irregularities by one of the implicated travel agencies." Denel had contracted the unnamed travel agency. Its services were however discontinued two years ago following the detection of irregularities "including a pattern of double billings." According to the article Denel took no action at the time as the parastatel "was worried that legal; action would be a paper exercise and result in fruitless expenditure of legal fees".
Full Article in This Day (02 August 2004)

Business Day's Chief Reporter Rob Rose reports on "what could prove to be a watershed for shareholder rights" in the form of an impending ground-breaking launch of a R500-million legal action by 50 creditors and former shareholders against former directors of defunct industrial company Whetstone. Whetstone was reportedly "placed in liquidation in June 2001, after an insolvency inquiry was held between August 2002 and April 2004." A report based on the findings of the inquiry "fingers various [Whetstone] directors for reckless trading and singles out auditors Grant Thornton for negligence."

Caiphus Kgosana relates the now commonplace phenomenon of whistle-blowers who derive more loss than profit from exposing corrupt acts. Set within the correctional services domain, this is an account of Tatolo Setlai, former head of the Bloemfontein Prison, who was arrested and charged with, among other things, contravening the Correctional Services Act. He was subsequently suspended for 15 months but he was acquitted on all charges by the Bloemfontein regional court in late July. With the assistance of four prison inmates, Setlai had "made a shocking videotape which revealed how corrupt warders were selling drugs, alcohol, firearms and juveniles as s ex slaves to hardened inmates." Despite being unable to pin anything against Setlai he now faces an additional internal hearing.
Full Article in The Star (02 August 2004)

Former inmate Mazwi Balman who "blew the whistle on prison warders who allegedly orchestrated the escape of eight prisoners from the Fort Glamorgan prison in East London", now "fears for his life and lives on handouts on the streets of Johannesburg." The spokesperson for the national commissioner of police, Selby Bokaba, has however insisted that Balman's claim - that "the crime intelligence unit helped him to meet former safety and security minister Steve Tshwete and police commissioner Jackie Selebi ... who were happy with the information he gave" - is absurd. According a report by Mmuso Pelesa, Bokaba asserted that his "office has never provided the Jali Commission with a shred of information about alleged corruption in any jail in the Eastern Cape." Spokesperson for the minister of safety and security, Leslie Xinwa confirmed that Balman gave them sensitive information. In addition the newspaper reports that two police officers in the Eastern Cape have confirmed that Balman did provide them "with credible information that had helped them to secure convictions and was also useful during the hearings of the Jali Commission."
Full Article in City Press (04 July 2004)

On her first visit to the troubled Diepsloot township north of Johannesburg, Gauteng MEC Nomvula Mokonyane identified corruption as one of the main causes of the mayhem "that saw two government buildings set alight, cars stoned and the R511 road to Johannesburg and Pretoria barricaded with stones and burning tyres." Dan Fuphe reports that rumours regarding the relocation of Diepsloot residents to Brits, north of Pretoria, fuelled the chaos and violence. A call for a commission of enquiry into the housing situation at Diepsloot has however failed to win the approval of Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu who insisted that the matter was within the control of the Gauteng government. In a strongly-worded address to the residents, Mokonyane said people who had occupied RDP houses illegally would be traced, evicted and prosecuted."
Full Article in Sowetan (13 July 2004)

Paddy Harper details how rampant corruption and lack of financial controls in the KwaZulu-Natal social welfare ministry will lead to an overspending of this year's budget by R1.89 billion. As a result of this the KwaZulu-Natal Cabinet is poised to "authorise a full-scale forensic audit and restructuring of the provincial ministry." A forensic audit conducted on behalf of the department found indicated that for example in Umzinto 90 disability grants out of a sample of 97 were fraudulently awarded. In addition 11 of 14 staff members in the Umzinto welfare office are implicated in corrupt activity.

Among the conclusions that were advanced by the University of Pretoria's assessment of the capacity in correctional services to prevent corruption is the observation that "attributing corruption in prisons to a few rotten apples underestimates the effect of organisational culture and institutional realities, which leads to an oversimplified approach to dealing with the problem." Intended to identify "the most prevalent manifestations of corruption within the department of correctional services (DCS)", the assessment has been commissioned by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Department of Public Service and Administration. Mollie Painter-Morland writes that "through 457 confidential interviews with both staff and inmates at Pollsmoore and Durban-Westville prisons, it emerged that ... Pollsmoore inmates reportedly experienced corrupt behaviour more frequently" despite the apparent similarity of corruption experiences in both prisons. The assessment however reveals that in both environments the factors contributing to corruption are characterised by a common trend including: "Physical conditions, especially overcrowding; Lack of buy-in to the department's code of conduct; Inconsistency in discipline and performance appraisals; Polices and procedures are not well communicated; Whistle blowers are not protected; Lack of skills and capacity in general; Uncertainty and a lack of training on the implementation of the new rehabilitation approach; Low morale and a lack of professional ethics; and personal variables, such as staff's financial difficulties and informal relationships with inmates."
Full Article in This Day (20 July 2004)

Mpumelelo Mkhabela highlights the proposed amendments to Parliament's code of conduct, "which will contain a clause that makes the abuse of Parliament's travel vouchers an ethical offence." This reform initiative, spearheaded by Parliament's joint committee on ethics and members interests, was spawned by the now well-known Parliament scandal, "Travelgate", which saw a number of MPs using their travel vouchers to "defraud the taxpayer of R13 million in fraudulent travel claims."
Full Article in City Press (22 August 2004)

Angela Quintal reports on the Home Affairs department's plan to introduce a special unit that will contribute to the department's crackdown on corruption by means of investigating employees considered to be living way beyond their means. According to Departmental spokesperson Mike Ramagoma, "There were Home Affairs employees who earned less than R80 000 a year, but owned large mansions and luxury vehicles." The department is also about to introduce another reform process in "evaluating the job description and salaries of its immigration officials" in order to reduce their susceptibility to bribe acceptance.

Writing in Business Day, Ernest Mabuza reveals the increasing importance of the Special Investigating Unit as more government departments turn to it in their efforts to fight internal corruption and maladministration including the Department of Correctional Services and Transport. Among the attractive features of the SIU is its relative inexpensiveness, compared to private-sector institutions, as well as its ability to "recover sufficient cash to cover the cost of probes." As a result "the unit had tripled its size over the past three years due to the growing funding from departments and an increase in budget from the treasury."

Responding to the proliferation of fraud and corruption in government's low-cost housing projects, Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has instructed "all provincial housing departments to establish anticorruption units [that] will investigate allegations of corruption and fraud in the provinces' housing projects." Speaking to a media briefing Sisulu announced that a special investigative unit - "to be set up in the office of the director general in the national housing department" - will co-ordinate and oversee "the work of the provincial anti-corruption units." Sphiwe Mboyane reports that according to Sisulu's spokesperson, Thabang Chiloane, "allegations of corruption in the awarding of tenders and violation of procurement procedures" is another dimension, which the units will focus on.

The enactment of the new Municipality Finance Management Act, which "is seen as an improvement on the Public Finance Management Act", has given local government ministers authority to act against corrupt councillors - a provision which the Local Government Systems Act forbade. Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya reports that in terms of the new Act, "elected public officials will now be made to account for their stewardship of the council or face up to five years' jail if they fail to act in accordance with the laws governing how local authorities should handle their financial matters." Since the new Act is not retrospective, municipality's mayor Jeri Ngomane and his councillors in Mpumalanga's second biggest municipality, Enhlanzeni district, who were last month found guilty of tender-rigging and various conflict-of-interest issues, will however be spared.

The victimisation of whistle-blowers by their superiors, despite being protected by the Protected Disclosures Act, is a recurrent theme in South African media reports over the past weeks. Besides the cases highlighted in the Industries and Crime and Justice sections of this Briefing, media reports are peppered with numerous other examples. We have chosen not to profile an anti-corruption institution in this edition but rather South African whistleblowers who appear to be under fire. These include:

.  The case of Glen Chase, a senior accountant in the Northern Cape's transport department who received a letter recommending that he be fired from his job after alleging that "John Block, a former MEC for transport, had misappropriated millions of rands for his own use."

.  Colin Braude, the Human Rights Commission's chief financial manager, who "was ordered to go on administrative leave after finding what he said were financial irregularities in the commission's reports."

.  Mike Tshishonga, deputy director-general in the justice department, who was suspended following alleging that the former minister of Justice Penuell Maduna "had granted illicit favours" to the embattled liquidator Enver Motala.

.  And finally, the case of the Mpumalanga junior traffic officer John Muller, previously published in the 16 issue of this Briefing, who was suspended from work in 1997 following information handed to the press that "a driving licence had been irregularly issued to Baleka Mbete (the current Speaker of the National Assembly)."
Drawing from these cases, many analysts have argued -along the lines of the Citizens' Barry Sergeant - that the Public Disclosures Act, introduced to protect whistle-blowers, "appears to be headed for the scrapyard, given a fast-growing list of toasted individuals." There are however positive signs that the whistle-blower problem is not being swept under the carpet as illustrated by the public protector's appointment of "a special task team to investigate why South Africans who report government corruption continue to be victimised by authorities."
For more on whistle-blowing see:
This Day 20 (August 2004)
Citizen (24 August 2004)

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The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) is an applied policy non-profit research organisation with a focus on human security issues on the African continent.

This e-briefing is produced by the SA Anti-Corruption Strategies component which is located within the ISS Organised Crime and Corruption programme in Cape Town and funded by the Danish Development Agency (DANIDA) through the Embassy of Denmark.

Editorial Team:
Hennie van Vuuren (Senior Researcher: Anti-Corruption Strategies)
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Andile Sokomani(ISS Research Assistant)
Pilisa Gaushe (Manager: ISS Corruption Resource Centre)

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"Corruption and misadministration are inconsistent with the rule of law and the fundamental values of our Constitution. They undermine the constitutional commitment to human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms. They are the antithesis of the open, accountable, democratic government required by the Constitution. If allowed to go unchecked and unpunished they will pose a serious threat to our democratic state". President of the SA Constitutional Court (Judge Arthur Chaskalson), 2000

Umqol'uphandle - SA Corruption Briefing, a monthly free e-briefing, aims to document and inform on instances of corruption in South Africa and the SADC region and assist in raising the debate around effective anti-corruption strategies - with a South African perspective. Published by the ISS - Organised Crime and Corruption Programme, Umqol'uphandle highlights the results of relevant research, initiatives to combat corruption as well as a snapshot of recent corruption related stories, which have appeared in the media. Each edition features the top corruption related story from the SADC region as well as a short profile on a key anti-corruption agency, organisation or instrument.

Umqol'uphandle is inspired by a Xhosa proverb meaning "the moment when something which has been hidden is revealed".