Lawyers and politicians have a penchant for making simple things complicated. It suits them to do so. In the case of lawyers, complex matters attract higher fees, or more kudos for intricate judgments for those lawyers who grace the Bench. In the case of politicians,...
DA softens on corruption body-independence – Paul Hoffman
4th March 2019 by Chris Bateman (BizNews) CAPE TOWN — The bottom line in the opinion of legal eagle Paul Hoffman on the Constitutionally-required independence of corruption-busting bodies? The leaders of the main political parties and their manifestos cannot be...
Why Cyril’s state capture squad will almost certainly fail
Experts point out the crucial flaw in the new 'Scorpions' unit that dooms it from the beginning on the backfoot President Cyril Ramaphosa. Image: Reuters/Hannah McKay In a country that has been ravaged by corruption and profligate looting, the announcement of a crack...
SA’s politicians decide who probes them – Paul Hoffman
CAPE TOWN — South Africa’s ruling party has played cat and mouse with the Constitution when it comes to creating bodies meant to track and prosecute corruption. In this erudite, shining contribution, Paul Hoffman, SC, Director of Accountability Now and...
What Shamila Batohi can and cannot do
Caught between a rock and a hard place, National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamiela Batohi will have to consider structural and operational reform of the laws governing the fight against the corrupt. The media hype around the commencement of the 10-year...
Poplak is quite wrong about the State Capture Investigative Directorate
The President has been poorly advised in making an announcement about setting up a special unit to probe State Capture. If he follows through, he can expect to be sued by those who do have genuine fealty to constitutionalism and the rule of law. Richard Poplak’s...
LETTER: Dikgang Moseneke’s slumber
The use of the phrase “we went to sleep for 10 years” (on former president Jacob Zuma’s watch) by the outgoing Wits chancellor and former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke, was part commentary and part confession. The commentary has been widely responded to, the...
Accountability Now media release
Accountability Now & CTPC challenge government to establish an integrity commission to deal with Hawks dysfunctionality Cape Town, 26 September 2018: Anti-corruption watchdog, Accountability Now and the Cape Town Peace Centre have challenged the dysfunctionality...
Corruption: Can we afford to continue ignoring the elephant in the room?
If President Cyril Ramaphosa is serious about “ending corruption”, as he puts it, government will have to create a strong, purpose-built public institution to do the work at hand. He says so himself, but he does nothing. The analysis in Daily Maverick by David Bruce,...
Why Hawks are beyond symptomatic treatment – Paul Hoffman
JOHANNESBURG — What is supposed to be South Africa’s elite crime-busting unit, the Hawks, is in disarray after years of Zuptoid interference. As Paul Hoffman, a senior counsel and the driving force behind the Institute for Accountability in SA eloquently explains in...
The Hawks are beyond repair; it’s time for an Integrity Commission
The opening of a Pandora’s box of revelations in the evidence being presented at the Zondo Commission into State Capture does not bode well for the future of the Hawks. It has long been suspected that the Hawks were captured by the baddies during the Zuma era. The...
LETTER: Hawks need sharp talons
Spare a thought for the new Hawks boss, Godfrey Lebeya, as he prepares for what will have to be a comprehensive clean-out of the corrupt and those who attempted to capture the state. Not only does President Cyril Ramaphosa profess (or is it feign?) inexplicable...
A woefully inadequate strategy to fight corruption and State Capture
As the process of “graduating into something terminal” due to rampant corruption is at an advanced stage, it is appropriate and timely to consider, with finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, the need for a manifesto for curing corruption, or at least tackling it in the...
What is to be done about corruption?
Paul Hoffman says there needs to be a national Integrity Commission, housed in Chapter Nine of Constitution. Corruption is a crime; it follows that the criminal justice administration is or ought to be the appropriate vehicle for dealing with corruption. It is...
An anti-corruption court and a TRC for the corrupt – really?
It is reported that the Catholic Bishops Conference favours the establishment of a specialised anti corruption court, while the SA Council of Churches is flirting with the idea of a TRC type process for the corrupt. Both of these proposals have the constitutionalists...
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