When the system turns on itself

Dear OUTA Supporters,

South Africa is watching something remarkable unfold. For once, corruption isn’t just being exposed from the outside - the system itself is beginning to turn on its own.

The Madlanga Commission and the related Parliamentary Ad-hoc Committee, is prying open the cupboards and back-room doors of law enforcement, showing how criminal networks have infiltrated the police, intelligence structures and the NPA. The SIU’s report on Tembisa Hospital has exposed to the nation, how deep and easily the rot has penetrated a public healthcare procurement system, turning the Tembisa hospital into a criminal enterprise.

These commissions, hearings and SIU exposés aren’t just scandals. They’re big events which display how truth is forcing its way to the surface, and when that happens, it’s messy, uncomfortable and the pace is often too slow.  The first in this series was the Zondo Commission, and the warnings and recommendations were not heeded. This is the next in a series of sessions that will continue to generate the necessary heat for change.

At OUTA, we live in that space between discovery, exposure and consequence. Our job is to widen the cracks until the need for accountability can no longer be ignored. It takes us into the space of working with whistleblowers, compiling reports, media statements, public protests and court action. Other times, it means months of quiet legal work, or compiling submissions to Parliament and other oversight bodies, that only makes headlines years later.

At any one time, lying beneath the hectic overt work that reaches the public space, lies a number of projects being quietly developed over months and even years.

Right now, one such project includes a constitutional challenge to close and accountability loophole in the Public Finance Management Act - a change that could hold every SOE executive to the same legal standards pertaining to fiduciary duties as any company director. Quiet work, but with loud consequences.

This month, our staff spent an afternoon with investigative journalist Jeff Wicks, who shared his four-year investigation into Babita Deokaran’s murder and the corruption she exposed at Tembisa Hospital. Listening to him was a sobering reminder that truth-telling in this country comes at a cost.

Journalists like Jeff - and many others working under threat, on shoestring budgets - are essential to democracy. They uncover what the public has a right to know, often without protection or proper support. Their work gives civil society, like OUTA, the evidence and courage to act.

Very often, our successes depend on their excellent work.

So as this year winds down into the silly season and hectic schedules before the year end break, I want to thank those who keep standing with us - our supporters, our partners, our whistleblowers and our journalists.

Accountability is a long, uphill climb. But with persistence, and the right people holding and shining the light, the truth always finds a way out, and that is the very essence of what brings about change.​

Wayne Duvenage

CEO, OUTA