By Paul Hoffman 27th May 2019 It has been suggested in the media coverage of the establishment of an Investigative Directorate (ID) for state capture and serious corruption offences that the ID is the “New Scorpions”. Some useful lessons can be learned from a comparison of the Scorpions of old with the features of the […]
LETTER: Argument over ‘plot’ against Zuma is fallacious
Decision to prosecute was that of acting prosecutions boss Mokotedi Mpshe, not former chief Bulelani Ngcuka and Scorpions head Leonard McCarthy 22 May 2019 – 05:04 By Paul Hoffman in Business Day Mokotedi Mpshe, former acting director of public prosecutions. Picture: SOWETAN It is fallacious to argue that former national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) […]
Mayday! The NPA’s Hermione Cronje is navigating treacherous waters
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s appointment of advocate Hermione Cronje as head of the Investigative Directorate of the NPA, which will investigate grand corruption, does not pass constitutional muster. This is a proposition that will no doubt be tested by the slippery customers that the directorate has to investigate and prosecute, if it is not first tested […]
Rule of law gives Ramaphosa the power to right wrongs of the past
The president has an opportunity to staff his cabinet with honest and upstanding members as demanded by the constitution 16 May 2019 – 05:15 By Paul Hoffman (BusinessLive) One of the first tasks that faces the victorious alliance in the wake of the May 8 general elections is the swearing in of the members of […]
Ramaphosa’s tasks: More jobs, greater responsiveness, improved accountability, less impunity, no new corruption
It is fervently to be hoped that the political leadership of the country will see the need to have a squeaky-clean Cabinet in place and will urgently move to kick-start the legislative process required to give birth to the Integrity Commission that the IFP has asked the president to establish. Putting it in place is […]
Not with a bang, but a whimper: Almost free and almost fair on the south-western tip of Africa
As we stood in the rain, queueing to vote in the deep south of Cape Town, the fidgeting got more and more pronounced. It was clear that the IEC officials were not only late, but also very inexperienced. That’s neither free nor fair. Opinionista • Paul Hoffman • 8 May 2019 Daily Maverick Planning for […]
Corruption is not just a scourge, it is a crime too
Professor Pierre de Vos has suggested that Cyril Ramaphosa, deputy president under Jacob Zuma and now president since February 2018 as well as possibly president for another 10 years, will be too constrained by the politics of patronage and factionalism within the ANC to do anything useful about countering corruption in SA. This rather dismaying […]
LETTER: New parliament must be cleansed of crooks
SA must not enter its next political phase with corrupt officials 06 May 2019 – 05:05 (BusinessDay) South African parliament. Picture: GCIS The voters of SA — those of them who turn up on Wednesday — have the opportunity to assist in the post-Zuma cleansing process that all right-thinking people accept is essential if constitutional […]
The golden thread of accountability and the conduct of the Public Protector
By Paul Hoffman* In the past, Accountability Now has had occasion to cross swords with the Public Protector in relation to her mishandling of the Ciex complaint (also called the lifeboat case) in which she startlingly and inappropriately sought to force the amendment of the Constitution as it impacts on the role of the Reserve […]
Vigilantism is not the solution to rampant corruption
Corruption Watch, which has kept watch over corruption in SA since 2012, has reached, and published, a somewhat startling conclusion after surveying the terrible ravages of grand and petty corruption in the country, especially as these twin scourges impact on the lives of the poor. As the population is made up of a majority of […]
