A new anti-corruption watch body will “harness the power of the public” through social media for South Africans to report corruption.
Corruption Watch, which was initiated by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and funded principally by donations from charitable organisations, went live yesterday with a Web site and SMS hotline, which will allow for ordinary citizens to anonymously report corrupt officials.
Corruption Watch is an independent non-profit organisation that will be headed by the former director of the competition commission, David Lewis.
“By gathering, interpreting and acting on information from the public, the media and other sources, Corruption Watch will expose the corrupt and the misuse in particular of public money,” says Lewis. “We want to help move the national conversation about corruption from resignation to action.”
The board of Corruption Watch includes Bobby Godsell, Adila Hassim, Mary Metcalfe, Mavuso Msimang, Archbishop Ndungane, Kate O'Regan, Zwelinzima Vavi, and is chaired by Vuyiseka Dubula.
Safe avenue
While the Web site will be the primary portal for the initiative, Corruption Watch has also set up Facebook and Twitter accounts (it is also using the hashtag #CorruptionWatch).
“Through social media, people can share their stories about all manner of corruption, including, but not exclusive to, bribery, kickbacks and graft; influence peddling and patronage; corruption in the workplace where they've seen or been victims of favouritism, nepotism, ghost workers and illegitimate absenteeism,” says the organisation.
Corruption Watch says it will keep the personal details of any whistle-blowers confidential. “But the information collected will be aggregated, enabling Corruption Watch to analyse the data, spot patterns and draw a 'heat map' of when and where corruption is occurring.”
Fatal cancer
Speaking at the launch of the initiative, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said: “Cosatu urges all its members and all South Africans to work closely with Corruption Watch to help to get rid of this fatal cancer within our society.”
Lewis says the information from the crowd-sourcing initiative will offer a clear understanding of what is happening on the ground. “Strengthening the scale and voice of civil society will help South Africans defeat corruption.”
The public is encouraged to sign the anti-corruption pledge on the Corruption Watch Web site. To SMS, send the text “BRIBE” to report corruption or, to sign the pledge, type “PLEDGE” plus your first and last names to the number 45142 (the SMS costs R1).
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