Anti-graft group has 500 cases in first month

In its first month of existence, Corruption Watch received 500 complaints from the public, the organisation said on Sunday.

Complaints about municipalities, traffic officers and the health sector featured the most prominently, according to a statement.

“The strong response from the public in the first month reflects a clear willingness on the part of members of the public to reveal their experiences of corruption and speak out against it,” executive director David Lewis said.

Corruption Watch was started as a non-profit organisation by the Congress of SA Trade Unions in January.

Less than half the cases reported cases fell within its mandate. About a third of the cases involved industrial relations and consumer issues, such as misconduct by lawyers, municipal mismanagement, business-to-business fraud and consumer grievances Ä especially about banks.

The remaining 25 percent of cases required further assessment as they were not easy to categorise.

Corruption Watch also received service delivery complaints, which Lewis said could relate to badly managed processes or corrupt behaviour.

The organisation is currently investigating various serious allegations of corruption.

“In two of these, we believe that we have sufficient evidence to refer to the law enforcement authorities or the Public Protector. We will closely monitor progress on the cases and inform the public regularly.

“It is our objective to facilitate the flow of information to enable the public to hold their leaders accountable. We will investigate certain of these complaints and we will use the information to identify hot spots of corruption,” said Lewis.

The organisation is to release a report next month on corruption in the Johannesburg metropolitan police department.

The public can report cases by visiting www.corruptionwatch.org.za, sending an email to info(at)corruptionwatch.org.za or sending an sms to 45142. - Sapa