User talk:Meredithaird/sandbox
== Peer Review by Marine de Franciosi
The lead section of the article provides a good overview of the subject and reflects the most important points discussed throughout your draft.
In terms of structure, I would suggest putting the ‘Perception about Corruption in South Africa’ section right after the lead section and before going into forms of corruption and scandals.
The sections on Jacob Zuma and the two other corruption scandals are very relevant to the topic. They have been covered in detail and from a neutral point of view.
There are a fair number of references, the links to the citations work except for the last ones. The sources seem to support the claims made in the article, however you should insert citations in your paragraphs. This is just a formatting issue, I would suggest that you copy and paste and continue writing your article in your sandbox (user page) and not on your talk page, you will be able to insert citations and it will be easier to format your article along Wikipedia standards. A few of the sources are newspaper articles (expected when covering corruption scandals) There are reasons to be cautious in general about coverage neutrality of newspaper articles, however, the articles cited do not appear to take a biased stance and can be said to be reliable. As you expand your article, adding scholarly sources could be a good idea.
‘Grand’/political corruption seems to be endemic in South Africa and has received a lot of media attention lately with the resignation former President Zuma. I was thinking you could also add some content on ‘pretty corruption’ (everyday bureaucratic corruption and bribery). How does it affect ordinary South Africans? I’m unsure whether there is enough reliable sources available to add relevant information on the extent of petty corruption but this may be something to look into.
There are many aspects to cover on Corruption in South Africa, of course it’s necessary to make choices and I think you did a good job in expanding on grand corruption scandals and forms of influence peddling and ‘state capture’. One last thing that I think could be relevant is a short historical background about the political transition in 1994 explaining how the governance structures and administrative and political legacies from the Apartheid regime persisted and led to present-day corruption. here is a good source that I found if you're interested in this suggestion: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03057070500370555?scroll=top&needAccess=true
Marinedefranciosi (talk) 00:36, 26 March 2018 (UTC)
==
Peer Review by Joseita Tesolin
1. Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you? Everything that was mentioned in the article draft was relevant to the topic. I thought the array of corruption incidences in South Africa presented are very salient. I feel like the work done under last 3 headings could be cleaned up but this is a draft
2. Is this article neutral? The way in which the article is written is very neutral. The incidences of corruption are presented in terms of unbiased facts.
3. Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented or underrepresented? I think the perspective of the corrupt individuals involved such as President Zuma could be discussed. I remember when I did my research on state capture in South Africa there were a few interviews done with the president as well as one of his son’s. There is fair amount written about how they were completely denying all allegations until very recently.
4. Do the citation links work? Do the sources support the claims in the article? The citations in this draft are not complete but all sources seem to be accounted for.
5. Is each fact support by an appropriate reference? Where does this information come from? Bias or unbiased? Most of the sources seem reliable and unbiased, including the information from outlets such as The Guardian. However, I was always taught to be wary of websites that are written by organizations. This reason for this is that they can be biased. There are a few articles that you can find through the McGill Library portal that are peer-reviewed and discuss issues of corruption in South Africa.
6. Is any information out of date? Anything missing that should be added? The information is not out of date. I mentioned earlier that maybe the perspective of the corrupt individuals would be an interesting one to add. Other than that it’s just some of the sourcing that needs to be polished but again this is a draft! Super interesting article so far. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.157.21.47 (talk) 15:28, 25 March 2018 (UTC)
Review by Manuel Balan
editOverall, I think this is progressing nicely. I agree with the comments above, especially those from Marine regarding organization, putting the article on sandbox, and sourcing. I think the area where this needs significant more work is on sourcing. You should rely as much as possible on academic journals, and not so much on journalistic ones. Please do a more systematic search for academic articles on corruption in South Africa, and incorporate that information to your draft.
article evaluation
edit2015 FIFA corruption case
Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
-the irrelevance of the Muslim woman who had fabricated claims against certain countries, might be relevant but it does not really add anything to the case; this woman talks about how she is a female, muslim whistleblower" pretty irrelevant -tv rights segment: T and T (connection to fox international channels) is mentioned but wiht no connection to the FIFA scandal; it was involved with gaining the rights to broadcast certain South American soccer tournaments -calls russia racist without backing it...involvement with Ukrainian crisis but not explained
Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
-seems neutral, no points defending the people -talked about the CIA, probably written in the perspective of an American; talks a lot about FBI -mentioned that jack warner cited an article by the Onion, a satirical news source...kind of poking fun at him; not necessary..makes him sound pathetic -there is not much defending the people, some claim that this could be a conspiracy although the article is very comprehensive and long
Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
-yes, the links work and the sources support the claim from the articles and citations that I read
Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
-a lot of the sources are the same -mostly US news sources -the Huffington Post is used which is not the most reliable news sources -mostly NY Times or the Guardian -also the Daily Telegraph (these sites are more gossip, tabloid rather than legitimate news source) -also a lot of articles from us.justice.gov
Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
-all the sources are current because the controversy is recent (within the last few years)
Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
-who's the victim?---really important -why did this only blow up now? this has always been going on -US is hypocritical with its own involvement in developing countries and their own track record -why is the US so concerned with this overseas corruption and the effects on foreign institutions?; what was the motivation for this corruption? -article is hard to follow, the chronological order of the article is extremely hard to follow
How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
-not well rated -people wanted to change the name to US vs Fifa case because most of this focuses on the FBI and CIA investigations of the happenings -should include the banned by FIFA -details of what FIFA is should be included as well
Meredithaird (talk) 18:32, 15 February 2018 (UTC)
What can I add to the Corruption in South Africa article?
edit-I will definitely add information on President Zuma and his corruption allegation/charges. -the article mentions that South Africa has a "low corruption rate" -no corruption scandals are expanded on -talks about anti-corruption measures and focuses on south africa's "comprehensive anti corruption frame work" -mentions tenderpreneurism but does not expand on how it relates to South African corruption, will add examples -I will add info on the corruption of the ANC
some helpful articles:
South African Court Blasts Parliament for Protecting Zuma in Corruption Case; New-Old Problem Faces South Africa: Corruption, Exploring corruption in the South African health sector, The corruption of South Africa; South Africa, Perceptions of Corruption in the South African Housing Allocation and Delivery Programme: What It May Mean for Accessing the State The politics of anti-corruption enforcement in South Africa
— Preceding unsigned comment added by Meredithaird (talk • contribs) 14:30, 1 March 2018 (UTC)
1st Draft- Corruption in South Africa
editCorruption in South Africa includes the private use of public resources, bribery, and improper favoritism.[1] The 2017 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index assigned South Africa an index of 4.3, ranking South Africa 71 out of 180 countries. This ranking represents a downward direction change with a drop of two points down from 45 (2016 CPI). Countries with scores below 50 are believed to have a serious corruption problem. Recent scandals surfacing since 2016 involving former South African President Jacob Zuma have drawn attention to corruption in South Africa. Cyril Ramaphosa, the newly elected South African entrepreneur, has vowed to root out existing corruption and further the development of anti-corruption initiatives. South Africa has a robust anti-corruption framework, but laws are inadequately enforced and accountability in public sectors such as healthcare remain low.[3] In addition, negative sanctions have been put in place to discourage whistle blowers from reporting corrupt activities in many public and private sectors. A recent scandal involving the Gupta family and former South African President Jacob Zuma, has pushed Zuma out of office while resurfacing a long list corruption complaint against the former president. Complaints against Zuma range from the former leader’s lavish spending of state funds to the delegation of contracts to businesses with familial connections or close ties.
Perception of corruption in South Africa
Two forms of corruption that are particularly prevalent in South Africa include tenderpreneurism and BEE fronting. The incident involving the Gupta family and Jacob Zuma can be classified as a form of state capture.
Contents
[hide]
• 1Tenderpreneurism • 2BEE Fronting • 3Anti-corruption initiatives • 4Notable incidents of fraud and corruption • 5References • 6External links
President Zuma and Corruption
In 2018, South Africa’s highest court found Mr. Zuma guilty of violating the constitution in regard to lavish spending of 246m Rand of state funds towards Zuma’s homestead in Nkandla. After a home invasion and the subsequent rape of one of Zuma’s four wives, Zuma undertook the means to upgrade security measures. A report by South Africa’s public protector in 2014 found Zuma had inappropriately allocated state funds to finance additional home improvements such as the addition of a swimming pool, amphitheater, visitor center, and cattle enclosure to his property. Zuma’s time in office has been marked by controversy and outside accusations of corruption. Zuma’s close relationship with the Gupta family has been highlighted in the former South African Public Protector’s report on State Capture. Zuma’s resignation on February 14th comes after months of pressure from the ANC.
Gupta’s Scandal
In the State of Capture report released by the Public Protector in 2016 reports on the dangers of state capture in the case of South Africa. The 355 page document reports on Mr. Zuma’s preferential treatment of the Gupta family and the involvement of Jacob Zuma’s son and the Gupta family. The allegations investigated include the Gupta’s involvement in the appointments and removals of members of cabinet, the unlawful awarding of state contracts to Gupta linked companies or persons, the banks’ preferential treatment of Gupta owned companies, and Zuma’s conflict of interest concerning his position and business dealings. The Gupta brothers, who have been major players in South African business for over a decade, began growing their relationship with former President Jacob Zuma in 2003 as he occupied the office of deputy president, Since 2003, both parties have benefited from an understanding in which the Gupta family has financed the Zuma family while Jacob Zuma has appointed friendly officials and awarded lucrative state contracts to the Gupta empire. South African authorities are seeking to recover up to 4.07 billion USD lost to the Gupta’s deals. Jacob Zuma’s son, Duduzane, and Gloria Ngeme Zuma, one of Mr. Zuma’s wives, received large transfers and monthly salaries for positions held at one of the Gupta firms. The Gupta family has engaged in a wealth of suspicious transactions with a series of shell companies and state-owned enterprises. The OCCRP has reported on Transnet’s contract with South China rail and subcontracts with Gupta run organizations. State controlled companies like Eskom and Transnet were in the center of illicit deals with Gupta companies. Eskom, the state electricity provider, has deposited over R1.8 billion into various Gupta accounts. Eskom paid Trillion, a Gupta-controlled enterprise, over R466 million for managerial help at a time when Trillion had a few employees. Other companies sub-contracted by Eskom reveal dealings with Tegeta, another Gupta-run company. Eskom spent double the average amount purchasing coal from Tegeta, becoming the most expensive supply contract in Eskom history. An arrest warrant for Ajay Gupta has been issued in February of 2018. The Gupta family mansion was raided in the same month, leaving all three brothers on the run.
Bank of Baroda scandal
The Bank of Baroda, an Indian state-owned bank, has played a crucial role in the Gupta family’s business deals. According to a report by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the Bank of Baroda allowed the Gupta family to move millions of dollars in alleged corrupt business transactions to offshore accounts. Although the Bank of Baroda denies the illicit behavior, the documents report that the bank’s South African branch issued unapproved loan guarantees, ignored internal compliance efforts, and averted regulators from learning about suspicious transactions in a way that benefited the Guptas’ network. Around 4.5m Rand have circulated around a handful of Gupta-associated companies between 2007 and 2017. Due to the volume of Gupta owned accounts, the majority of the bank’s transactions in Johannesburg involved Gupta family funds. Reports reveal that inter-company loans provided an untraceable and inexplicable technique used by the Gupta brothers to transfer money from the Bank to various Gupta-owned companies like Trillion Financial Advisory and Centaur Mining. The suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed by workers at the Bank of Baroda related to Gupta transactions were often voided by managers and higher-level bank officials. Most SARs failed to reach the South African Financial Intelligence Centre as a result.
Perception of Corruption in South Africa
In 2013, the Afrobarometer report shows a substantial increase in the public perception of corruption since 2008. While a little over half of all people on the continent of Africa (56%) believe that their country could be doing more to curb corruption, 66% of South Africans believe that the government could be taking more steps to restrict corrupt activity. Although South Africa ranks among the lowest countries where citizens experienced on a first-hand basis. Only 15% of South Africans admit to having paid a bribe in the past year. The average percentage of Africans paying bribes in the prior year falls around 30%.
Tenderpreneurism[edit source]
Main article: Tenderpreneur A tenderpreneur is an individual who enriches themselves through corrupting the awarding of government tender contracts, mostly based on personal connections and corrupt relationships - although outright bribery might also take place - and sometimes involving an elected or politically appointed official (or his or her family members) holding simultaneous business interests.[5] This is often accompanied by overcharging and shoddy workmanship. The previous case involving the Gupta family and their close ties to the Zuma regime can be classified as tenderpreneurism. BEE Fronting[edit source] BEE-fronting is an abuse of the rules governing Black Economic Empowerment(BEE), where qualifying persons are given a seat on the Board of Directors of a company while having no decision-making power in the company, in order to qualify the company for government contracts in terms of BEE. In June of 2017, Netcare, a company which operates the largest private hospital network in South Africa, was accused of BEE fronting. Since then, 17 other complaints have been filed against various South African companies regarding BEE-fronting. Related to this is Cadre deployment and employment, which is an official ANC policy.[6]
Anti-corruption initiatives[edit source]
Government initiatives against corruption are coordinated by the Department of Public Service and Administration.[7] The Public Protector also plays a role in fighting corruption. A disbanded independent unit Scorpions (South Africa) was replaced by the Hawks (South Africa) which is subordinate to the police's " The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation ". South Africa has well-developed framework and legislation outlining corruption initiatives. The Prevention and Combating of Corruption Act (PCCA) criminalizes corruption in public and private sectors and codifies specific offences, making it easier for courts to use the legislation. This act especially condemns bribery, extortion, abuse of power, money laundering while obliging public officials to report corruption offences. Like many corruption regulation in South Africa, the PCCA is poorly implemented and the act does not include any protectionary measures for whistleblowers. The National Anti-Corruption Forum provides an online guide to the Act. Other acts like the Promotion of Access to Information Act calls for an increased access to public information. The Public Finance Management Act examines government expenditures and the Code of Conduct for Assembly and Permanent Council members calls for the full disclosure of members to report gifts. Enforcement mechanisms remain weak for many of these preventative Acts, allowing for corrupt actions to go unreported. South Africa has ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption and the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.
Past notable incidents of fraud and corruption[edit source] • The South African Arms Deal, finalised in 1999, became mostly known for the bribery that was used to gain the contracts. The Schabir Shaik trial arose partly from this scandal. • The Travelgate scandal, in which forty Members of Parliament were found to have illegally used parliamentary travel vouchers worth R18,000,000 for personal use.[8] • The Goodwood police station commander, Siphiwu Hewana, was found guilty of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by tampering with the docket for convicted fraudster Tony Yengeni's arrest for driving under the influence in 2007.[9] • Former National Police Commissioner and ex-President of Interpol, Jackie Selebi, was convicted on corruption charges in July 2010, for receiving (at least) R120,000 from alleged crime-syndicate boss, Glenn Agliotti.[10]
sources:
http://www.corruptionwatch.org.za/sa-continues-keep-dubious-company-cpi/
https://www.business-anti-corruption.com/country-profiles/south-africa
http://www.corruptionwatch.org.za/why-is-corruption-getting-worse-in-south-africa/
http://www.corruptionwatch.org.za/sa-continues-keep-dubious-company-cpi/
http://www.corruptionwatch.org.za/bank-baroda-played-key-role-sas-gupta-scandal/
file:///Users/meredithaird/Downloads/ProQuestDocuments-2018-03-02.pdf
file:///Users/meredithaird/Downloads/New-Old_Problem_Faces_South_Africa_Corrupti.PDF
file:///Users/meredithaird/Downloads/ProQuestDocuments-2018-03-02%20(1).pdf — Preceding unsigned comment added by Meredithaird (talk • contribs) 20:57, 16 March 2018 (UTC)
Source
editHi! You should be aware that the site Global Research is listed on List of fake news websites and might be an unreliable source. Sjö (talk) 08:03, 22 April 2019 (UTC)