The results of overall 2016/2017 audit outcomes prepared by the Auditor-General (AG) of the 257 municipalities are in. The results are grim and make clear that the local government system in South Africa is failing. The crux of the AG’s report is that of the 257 municipalities audited‚ 45 regressed and only 16 improved. Only 33 municipalities (13%) managed to produce quality financial statements and performance reports and complied with all key legislation‚ thus receiving a clean audit. 

The number of municipalities with clean audits decreased from 48 in 2015/2016, to 33. In addition, 112 municipalities received unqualified audit reports with findings, up from 108 in the previous year. Qualified audit outcomes increased from 60 to 66, and four municipalities got an adverse report with findings. 

World Press Freedom Day falls on 3 May annually and is intended to commemorate and emphasise the fundamental principles of press freedom, assess the state of press freedom across the globe, defend the media from attacks on their independence, as well as to pay tribute to those journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty. 

The final point has never rung truer than today, mere days after the death of 10 journalists in Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan, on the morning of Monday, 30 April, at the hands of a suicide bomber who was targeting journalists specifically. Extremist group, the Islamic State (ISIS) has since claimed responsibility for the attacks. Many of the journalists who lost their lives in the explosion had been covering the crisis in Afghanistan for years, responsible for keeping the world abreast of developments on the ground in the war-torn country. The death toll in Afghanistan is now at the highest for journalists since at least 2002, according to the New York Times. 

24 years ago, South Africans from all walks of life stood in snaking queues to cast votes in the nation’s historic first multi-racial democratic elections. The mood for most, was buoyant, if not a little uncertain, given the challenges that lay ahead for the nation.

Today, South Africa’s position as a constitutional democracy is well solidified, with its citizens, to a large extent, enjoying the nation’s democratic dividends. There has been visible progress – notably in areas such as electrification – across the country. Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) shows that in 1994 to 1995, 50.9% of South African households had access to electricity, that figure by 2012 had increased to 85.3%. In general, while crime rates are at unacceptably high levels, the murder rate in particular has decreased, although this fact has done little to assuage the perceptions regarding the prevalence of violence in South Africa. In 1995, the nation’s murder rate stood at 66.9 per 100 000 people according to the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). In 2012 to 2013, the murder rate, according to the South African Police Service (SAPS) had decreased to 31.3 per 100 000 people. 

International and South African news has been consumed over the last few months with the tumbling of Steinhoff International N.V. (Steinhoff) and the sudden resignation of its former Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Markus Jooste (Mr Jooste). Following the announcement of suspected accounting irregularities in Steinhoff’s financial statements, the fall in Steinhoff shares has, according to media reports, wiped out over R200 billion in market capitalisation. At the time of announcement, the Government Employees Pension Fund was, through the Public Investment Corporation, the second largest shareholder in Steinhoff.

In the Netherlands, where Steinhoff is incorporated, there are talks of a large-scale class action against Steinhoff’s directors and auditors. Locally, it appears that the Hawks and the Financial Services Board are investigating Mr Jooste. Recently there has also been an announcement that Mr Jooste will possibly be subpoenaed to appear before Parliament.

The Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill (the Bill) has recently been tabled before Parliament. It is an improved version of its 2016 predecessor, which was then in draft form. In an open and democratic society, the freedom to express ideas is important, but that freedom has to be underpinned by considerations of other values including dignity, equality and freedom. It is this delicate balance which the Bill by and large successfully achieves.

Rightly so, the Bill creates the offence of hate crime motivated by prejudice. The hate crime means that where an individual is found guilty of a criminal offence motivated by prejudice or intolerance, towards the victim, then the additional charge of a hate crime arises. There are widely-reported incidents of groups and individuals murdered and subjected to other harm or abuse over prejudice influenced by for example, sexuality or nationality. It is therefore important for South Africa’s penal laws to develop in order to deter this particular type of criminal behaviour. The first intention of the Bill therefore is a welcome development in South African law, as this plugs a legislative gap and further serves as a deterrent to would-be offenders. There is a need for legal regulation to guide behaviour change.

TOPIC: ASSESSING THE PERFORMANCE OF CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Speakers: 
Ms Phephelaphi Dube (CFCR) – Civil and Political Rights Measurement Methodology
Dr Mispa Roux (SAIFAC) – Right to Assembly
Ms Christine Botha (CFCR) – Right to Privacy
Mr Robert Freeman(SAIFAC) – Freedom and Security of the Person

On 7 April 2018, World Health Day – the global health awareness day initiated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) – is celebrated. The theme for 2018 is universal health coverage, urging governments to actively pursue making access to essential quality healthcare services available to everyone. This theme is in line with the State’s obligation to healthcare in terms of section 27(2) of the Constitution, to take “reasonable legislative and other measures within its available resources” to achieve the “progressive realisation” of the right. 

Universal health coverage, according to the WHO, is not limited to ensuring access to medical care but also includes public health service campaigns. A vital element of public healthcare is food safety. South Africa is currently facing the world’s largest outbreak of listeriosis, a serious foodborne disease caused by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. As of 26 March 2018, 982 laboratory-confirmed cases have been reported and thus far, more than 180 people have died. The goal of health for all would mean very little in wake of this epidemic, unless an urgent review of food safety management in South Africa is undertaken.

THE CONSTITUTION AND GOOD PUBLIC LEADERSHIP: BREAKFAST DISCUSSION SERIES 2018

TOPIC: LAW, SPATIAL JUSTICE AND LAND REFORM

SPEAKERS: MS ANNELIZE CROSBY, HEAD OF LAND AFFAIRS, AGRI SA & PROF JAAP DE VISSER, DIRECTOR, DULLAH OMAR INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE

Join us for the second in a series of breakfast discussions for 2018 hosted by the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CFCR) and the School of Public Leadership (SPL) at Stellenbosch University (SU) and supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS). 

The nation came to a standstill in 2014 when Michael Komape, a five-year-old Grade R pupil, went missing at school. He was later discovered, dead, at the bottom of a collapsed pit latrine at his school in Limpopo. The pit latrines were the only available sanitation options for the learners. In March 2018, four years later, the body of another Grade R pupil, five-year-old Lumka Mkhethwa, was found after she, like Michael, disappeared from her classroom in rural Eastern Cape (EC). She was found, again like Michael, dead at the bottom of a pit latrine at her school.

These cases are only two of those that have been reported. They are unlikely to be the only instances where children have died, been injured or have fallen ill due to poor sanitation infrastructure at schools across the country. Millions of South Africa’s children live and go to school in the poorest provinces, of which Limpopo and the EC are part. The responsibility to ensure the safety of learners at public schools – with access to not just the tools to learn, but the conditions under which to learn, including appropriate infrastructure, like serviced toilets, functional classrooms and recreational facilities – is vested in the Department of Basic Education (DBE).