2021: What a year!
Like everyone else, amaBhungane has had a tough year, but we’ve emerged stronger and ready to grow — with your help.
Clumsy Nersa redaction reveals “higher” cost of emergency power
A small slip-up in the extensive redaction of documentation around potential 20-year contracts with the controversial Turkish Karpowership group has seemingly revealed that South Africa will pay far more than advertised.
All that glitters: how state capture hobbled Alexkor
The Guptas’ poisonous legacy still haunts the diamond coast of the Northern Cape. Alexkor, the state diamond mine at the mouth of the Orange river, “has been destroyed by corruption and state capture” its miners say.
The R280m Joburg ‘crime scene’: How CoJ kept Kgoro in business (part three)
In part three of the series, we look at how the city, under the ANC’s leadership, rolled over and allowed a politically-connected consortium to hijack three hectares of prime city land.
The R280m Joburg ‘crime scene’: Strategic friends (part two)
This is part two of a three-part series that looks at the sale of erf 575 – three hectares of prime land above the Sandton Gautrain – to a consortium with deep connections to the ANC.
Investec’s multi-billion Euro backing for legendary ‘tax evader’ — cum-ex part three
The South African investment bank provided billions to one of the alleged pioneers of the alleged tax fraud dubbed “cum-ex” despite their client facing tax evasion investigations in four different countries.
Hawks investigating ‘Malema-linked’ fuel tender
Dodgy payments, first revealed by amaBhungane in September 2019, were at the time the strongest indication of the EFF taking kickbacks in metros where it emerged as kingmaker after the 2016 local government elections. Now the Hawks are asking questions.
How Investec was a player in the world’s largest tax fraud – cum-ex part two
The investment bank has been named in criminal investigations of its alleged involvement in a number of the infamous German “cum-ex” tax scam transactions. Of particular interest to prosecutors in Germany is the case of US pension funds that relied on Investec to make allegedly fraudulent tax claims.
Investec implicated in investigations into the world’s largest tax fraud – the cum-ex files part one
A massive leak of German prosecutors’ documents has revealed how the investment bank took part in the epic European “cum-ex” scam out of its small Irish office. Approval for the bank’s participation in the schemes, witnesses and documentary evidence suggest, came from head-office in Johannesburg.
You knew, Ekurhuleni! Community waste collectors ‘ripped off’
The City of Ekurhuleni repeatedly dodged claims by amaBhungane that a waste collection programme to empower the city’s poorest instead short-changed them. But city officials knew all along. Their own investigation, now obtained by amaBhungane, had told them the same thing.
Hushed up: Mayor Masina’s high speed crash in ‘borrowed’ blue light car
City of Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina was in a high-speed, midnight crash at the wheel of a luxury municipal car he allegedly had no permission to drive. A witness told police he behaved as if drunk. Thirteen months later, it is clear that the embarrassing incident has been hushed up.
UPL disaster: Residents kept in the dark about dangers on their doorstep
Test results have finally confirmed that pesticides – including known carcinogens – poisoned rivers, soil and beaches in Durban. Provincial authorities say they have opened a criminal case against agro-chemical giant UPL but for residents who were exposed to toxic fumes and contaminated water, there is a growing fear of the unknown long-term health effects.
AmaB Advocacy: Internal political party campaign financing — all eyes on the high court
Comment: AmaBhungane has argued in the Pretoria high court that donations to internal political party campaigns – which can lead ultimately to the candidate’s elevation to high office – are constitutionally required to be disclosed.
“Dr Dan” Matjila’s secret deal to make Survé’s R700m debt to pensioners ‘disappear’
Yet another court case has laid bare allegations the former chief executive of the Public Investment Corporation secretly signed away state pensioners’ claims worth hundreds of millions of rands to help his alleged friend, media mogul Iqbal Survé.
UPL chemical disaster: A gaping legal loophole or jaw-dropping negligence?
How did a warehouse storing tons of toxic and flammable chemicals, some banned elsewhere, quietly move in next door to a school, a Makro superstore and a wetland without anyone knowing?
Advocacy update: Constitutional Court vindicates amaBhungane’s legal strategy to ensure transparency in internal political party campaign funding
We will make our case for transparency once again in the high court.
How Karpowership was torpedoed by substandard environmental studies
The R225-billion powerships deal may finally be sunk by the environment department’s refusal to authorise the Turkish-led consortium’s projects. It failed to deliver adequate environmental reports or listen to warnings from specialists, the department said.
Powership company trails corruption claims in its wake
The Turkish company that won a controversial bid to plug the hole in Eskom’s electricity supply has been dogged by corruption accusations abroad.
Cashing in on Ekurhuleni’s money for the poor?
A City of Ekurhuleni aid programme to benefit the poor was generously expanded – but the beneficiaries were often commercial companies, raising questions about misplaced priorities and political favours.
Millions out, billions in part II: Company that paid millions to the ANC and Malema scored big in Ekurhuleni
Some days Thulani Majola gave generously to the ANC; some days he gave to EFF leader Julius Malema. This even-handedness might help explain the hoard of government contracts Majola accumulated over the years. The second in our two-part series looks at how Majola’s company accumulated lucrative tenders in Ekurhuleni.