Opinionista • Paul Hoffman • 16 July 2019 Daily Maverick Between the greedy lack of integrity of leaders and the tenets of the National Democratic Revolution in action, it is difficult not to conclude that the ANC-led tripartite alliance is both deliberately subversive of constitutionalism and shot through with criminal corruption of the kind that […]
LETTER: Public protector can police the executive
The office has the power to investigate allegations of money laundering 09 July 2019 – 05:02 Business Day Genevieve Quintal is mistaken to think the public protector does not have jurisdiction to investigate money laundering (or indeed any criminal activity) on the part of a member of the executive (“Legal costs: president could set an […]
In defence of the Office of the Public Protector – Paul Hoffman
27th June 2019 BizNews By Paul Hoffman Those who follow the legally oriented part of current commentary on political developments in SA have the benefit of the views of two learned professors, the one real (Professor Pierre de Vos of UCT) and the other not (Professor Balthazar, the nom de plume of a lawyer who […]
Where Eagles Dare: How to fight grand corruption
Opinionista • Paul Hoffman • 25 June 2019 • Daily Maverick If, as appears to be the case, neither the NPA nor the Hawks have the functional and structural capacity to deal with grand corruption, then the obvious solution is to create a constitutionally compliant entity that is able to do so. While it is […]
The New Dawn SONA says nothing about getting us out of the hole we’re in
Traditionally, the first sitting of a new Parliament (and we are now on our sixth ‘new SA’ Parliament) is kick-started with the delivery of a State of the Nation Address, or SONA, by the head of state and head of the national executive, who, in all six Parliaments, has also been the president of the […]
Email to the President dated 25 March 2019, concerning the establishment of an Integrity Commission under Chapter Nine of the Constitution.
Dear Mr President, According to media reports, you have established an Investigative Directorate (the Unit) within the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to deal with grand corruption. We have publicly expressed our reservations about the constitutionality of this tactic in the war on the corrupt: www.accountabilitynow.org.za/?s=Poplak”s&submit=Se arch. www.accountabilitynow.org.za/can-shamila-batohi- revive-a-dying-npa/. www.accountabilitynow.org.za/why-cyrils-state- capture-squad-will-almost-certainly-fail/. Our main concern around the […]
Fit for office: Incompetence is curable, dishonesty is not
Opinionista • Paul Hoffman • 10 June 2019 • DailyMaverick Thuli Madonsela, the former Public Protector, has done the South African public a great service by breaking her silence to make it known that she did not run her office in the same way as her successor does. The confidentiality of processes and the opportunity […]
Is Bheki Cele fit for purpose?
Opinionista • Paul Hoffman • 5 June 2019 • DailyMaverick Those responsible for proper oversight of the police minister should be calling for his head, not mollycoddling him with technocratic advice. The new Cabinet is now in place, some fresh blood, some familiar faces and quite a pile of soiled baggage of the past. In […]
Government creates an atmosphere conducive to investment
By Paul Hoffman* On the same day that the Statistician-General announced that the SA economy has shrunk by 3.2% in the first quarter of this year, our worst performance in ten years, the Secretary General of the ANC, Ace Magashule, started his post NEC Lekgotla press conference on 3 June, 2019 with the sound observation […]
LETTER: Precautionary suspensions could improve ANC’s image
It would be the fairest way of dealing with errant MPs on the list compiled by the integrity committee 03 June 2019 – 05:00 – BusinessDay The infamous 23 people on the ANC’s parliamentary list who were red-flagged by the party’s integrity committee are all ANC deployees. It is therefore appropriate to regard them as […]
