The executive director of Corruption Watch, Dr David Lewis, will deliver a Public Lecture on Thursday (24 May) at Eden Grove. The lecture will be followed by the signing of the pledge by official representatives of structures of Rhodes University in support of the Corruption Watch.
Corruption Watch is an independent civil society body recently established to lead the fight against corruption. Its mission is to build a more engaged and active civil society in South Africa. It gathers, analyses and shares information on corruption in South Africa.
Quoted in the Business Day newspaper on 21 May 2012, Lewis said the reaction to the launch of Corruption Watch has been a humbling experience.
“There is a huge groundswell of people who are really outraged, and if the government thinks this is a suburban preoccupation, they really are deluding themselves. It is not something the chattering classes have to deal with that often, but when you are in a small or medium-sized town it absolutely slaps you in the face, either in the form of services you do not get, or in terms of the incredible visibility of those who are getting rich a little too quickly.”
Corruption Watch spokesperson, Bongi Mlangeni, said the visit to Rhodes University was part of a drive to mobilise South African Universities against corruption. She said the signing of the pledge is “a way of encouraging citizen participation in the fight against corruption.”
Mlangeni said that people should realise that it is time to take action against corruption. The time when citizens could only watch helplessly has passed. Signing the pledge is a symbolic commitment to report any corrupt activities and not to take part in it.
She said Corruption Watch investigates all reported cases and use the reports to demonstrate some of its activities to the rest of South Africa. Whistle-blowers are guaranteed anonymity.
So far the organisation has successfully led the No more tjo-tjo and Heroes & Zeroes campaigns. The No more tjo-tjo campaign encourages motorists to know their rights in order to avoid abuse and unlawful arrests by traffic officers.
The Heroes & Zeroes campaign commends people who refuse to pay bribes, report such incidents and shame those who pay bribes.
Corruption Watch board of directors includes Bobby Godsell, a member of the National Planning Commission and chairman of Business Leadership SA; Adila Hassim, a founding member of Corruption Watch; David Lewis, executive director of Corruption Watch and former chairman of the Competition Tribunal; and Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
It was started as a nonprofit organisation funded by donations from charitable foundations by Cosatu office-bearers to address the increasing number of corruption complaints from its members and the public.
Corruption Watch was officially launched in the beginning of 2012.
The Public Lecture will starts at 18:30pm.
By Azwi Mufamadi
Photo: Dr David Lewis, executive director of Corruption Watch
Photo by: Martin Rhodes