Open Secrets ZA

- YouTube Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

"If the NHI is implemented in its entirety, perfectly or imperfectly, it would render the need for private healthcare system unnecessary and moot," says Luthando Vilakazi on Health Beat.

WATCH NOW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o6E8pq4_og

Arms committee fails to explain SA’s weapon sales to Saudi Arabia and UAE National Conventional Arms Control Committee has not filed record of decisions despite being ordered to do so by the High Court in 2021

What need does a democratic country have for an apartheid military industrial complex responsible for decades of suffering?

🚨 READ HERE: https://groundup.org.za/article/sa-arms-control-committee-delays-producing-record-of-weapons-sales-for-five-years/

💥No climate justice in a world at war

The @cjcoalition.bsky.social calls for an immediate ceasefire, the protection of civilian lives, and transparency around military emissions.

READ: https://climatejusticecoalition.org/no-climate-justice-in-a-world-at-war/

🚨 Join us and the Institute for Economic Justice on 11 March 2026 at 13:00 (SAST) for an important discussion on South Africa’s digital welfare fraud crackdown!

🔗 Register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/3617726213756/WN_9AdzXcAzTFS83-gYdrbF7g

Campaigner Please click the link to complete this form.

Itching for something new? Open Secrets Campaigner position might be what you're looking for!

Applications are almost closed so make sure to get yours in before Sunday!

APPLY HERE: https://form.jotform.com/Open_Secrets/campaigner2026

South Africa promised transparency in arms exports. So why is the NCACC still refusing to explain weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE?

READ Open Secrets' Ntokozo Dladla's op-ed: https://groundup.org.za/article/sa-arms-control-committee-delays-producing-record-of-weapons-sales-for-five-years/

Trains to nowhere: How a firm scored millions as Prasa allegedly blew billions on old trains | News24 YNF Engineering was the biggest beneficiary of Prasa’s seemingly irregular R7.5 billion general overhaul contract to fix trains that were not required for service and were left to rust away after refurbishments, according to a forensic investigation by law firm Webber Wentzel.

YNF Engineering got R970 million — nearly 40% of what Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) spent in 3 years on its overhaul tender.

Read more: https://www.news24.com/investigations/trains-to-nowhere-how-a-firm-scored-millions-as-prasa-allegedly-blew-billions-on-old-trains-20260222-0987

📢 Open Secrets is looking for a new full-time campaigner!

We investigate economic crime, expose power, and use research, advocacy & the law to defend human rights.

Ready to hold the powerful accountable?

APPLY HERE: https://form.jotform.com/Open_Secrets/campaigner2026

Budget 2026: civil society groups call for a R1,750-a-month social grant “The government needs to tax the rich”

Civil society has been advocating for an expanded R1,750-a-month Basic Income Grant (BIG). The call is clear: tax the rich, fund jobs, and refuse to buy into another "anti-poor" budget

Read here: https://groundup.org.za/article/budget-2026-civil-society-groups-call-for-a-r1750-a-month-social-grant/

Reminder that Open Secrets' Ra'eesa Pather wrote that "a judgment in Mozambique has implicated Pam Golding Properties in a major corruption scandal" 👀

READ: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-02-17-pam-golding-faces-fallout-over-managemengement-of-millions-bribes-paid-to-former/

📢 Open Secrets is looking for a new campaigner!

Are you an advocate for social justice, accountability and transparency?
Are you keen to work with a small team of investigators and civil society activists?

APPLY HERE: https://form.jotform.com/Open_Secrets/campaigner2026

Join Sam Husseini for a PSC talk on press freedom and international law! Open Secrets Ra'eesa Pather will be in conversation with him, Lester Kiewit, Jaamia Galant and Martin Jansen about accountability in global affairs.

📍 Tomorrow, Saturday 21 February
⏰ 3pm-5pm
🏠 Community House

Silence speaks loudest: The climate contradictions in Cyril’s Sona The president’s address shows a government that wants to manage climate impacts without fully taking responsibility for their causes.

Did you spot the contradiction in Ramaphosa’s #SONA speech? SA apparently wants climate resilience without climate accountability and 'just' transition perks without taking on polluters or inequality

Read: https://currencynews.co.za/silence-speaks-loudest-the-climate-contradictions-in-cyrils-sona/

🚨 BREAKING: Funds handled by Pam Golding Properties and Jouberts Attorneys allegedly ended up as bribe payments to the son of a former Mozambican president!

READ: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-02-17-pam-golding-faces-fallout-over-managemengement-of-millions-bribes-paid-to-former/

Neoliberalism still governs South Africa. If private interests outweigh public needs, even the most polished #SONA speech won’t stop inequality from widening.

READ: https://zabalaza4socialism.org.za/2026/02/11/beyond-the-script-why-the-state-of-the-nation-needs-a-rupture-not-reform/

Zuma, Thales appeals for stay of prosecution refused, NPA’s ‘Stop Stalingrad’ ruling delayed | News24 Judge Nkosinathi Chili has dismissed Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thales’ latest appeals in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg for the stay of their corruption prosecutions – but has delayed his ruling on the State’s application to block them from using appeals to avoid their trials.

Zuma’s corruption case was delayed due to attempts to remove his prosecutor. The NPA argues that the trial must go ahead—appeals or not 🧑🏾‍⚖️

https://www.news24.com/southafrica/crime-and-courts/zuma-thales-appeals-for-stay-of-prosecution-refused-npas-stop-stalingrad-ruling-delayed-20260204-0592

Despite the US gov's attempts at making coal kawaii, it remains uncertain if "Coalie" the coal mascot makes the public feel better about draining resources and rapid climate change.

Read: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/02/trump-administration-interior-doug-burgum-mascot-coalie-ridicule/

60 years ago, Kwame Nkrumah wrote about profit shifting draining Africa’s wealth. Today, a colonial-era global tax system still lets multinationals hide profits—costing Africa approx. $90bn per year.

Read more here: https://africasacountry.com/2026/01/what-kwame-nkrumah-knew-about-profit-shifting

Full list The Corporate Tax Haven Index thoroughly evaluates each jurisdiction's tax and financial systems to create a clear picture of the world's greatest enablers of global corporate tax abuse, and to highlight the laws and policies that policymakers can amend to reduce their jurisdiction's enabling of corporate tax abuse.

Did you know that Europe enables more than 50% of global corporate tax abuse? The @Tax Justice Network recently updated their list of countries that are the biggest enablers of corporate tax fraud. Want to know where South Africa is sitting? 👀

Check it out: https://cthi.taxjustice.net/full-list

Iranian film maker Jafar Panahi will screen 'Taxi Tehran' tonight at the The Old Granary! Open Secrets' Ra'eesa Pather in conversation about Iran & the intersectionality of people's liberation.

📍 TONIGHT
Refreshments: 17:30
Screening: 18:00
Discussion: 19:30

RSVP: https://tinyurl.com/irfilming

An IN for the year: accountability trumping confidentiality. The Information Regulator has ruled that the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) must process Inhlanhla’s PAIA request for suspicious trading records

Read: https://amabhungane.org/analysis-jse-gets-a-whipping-at-the-information-regulator/#

Open Secrets welcomes the @groundup.org.za publication of an investigation that private interests attempted to gag. This is a victory for media freedom and the public.

Read the article here: https://groundup.org.za/article/ethics-company-tries-to-gag-groundup/

The Arms Trade Thrives in the Shadows - Let’s Bring It Into the Light | Corruption Tracker YouTube video by Corruption Tracker

The arms trade thrives in the shadows — and corruption is the cover.
Explore the Arms Trade Corruption Tracker: a free public database documenting 63 cases across 66 countries and 86 companies.
@armstradect.bsky.social
youtu.be/dEiMl62IBHo?...

🎄 We’re powering down for December, but our commitment to exposing private-sector crimes and human rights abuses never takes a holiday. Thank you for supporting our work this year. See you in the New Year ✨

SUPPORT US HERE: https://www.opensecrets.org.za/donations/support-open-secrets-v2/

Today marks the 30th Reconciliation Day in a democratic nation. Let us remember that the goal is still for all struggles to be heard and for all communities to be protected. Apartheid continues in many forms, and it remains our collective duty to end it.

In case you missed it, give our article on the renewable industry a read. Will green energy serve communities—or just shareholders?

Find out here: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-11-26-profit-over-people-a-spotlight-on-south-africas-contested-energy-landscape/

SARS moves to seize PetroSA’s Mossel Bay refinery over R4.5bn tax debt PetroSA's financial struggles deepen as the South African Revenue Service moves to attach its Gas-to-Liquids refinery in Mossel Bay over unpaid licensing and duty fees exceeding R4.5 billion.

PetroSA is sitting in R4.5bn tax debt for a refinery whose book value is just R340m. PetroSA now relies on imports to keep the lights on.

Read here: https://iol.co.za/business-report/companies/2025-12-04-sars-moves-to-seize-petrosas-mossel-bay-refinery-over-r45bn-tax-debt/

How Bain & Co was run out of town Corruption continues to shape South Africa’s problems. But the departure of Bain & Co is a victory for corporate accountability.

After years of damage to SARS and deep ties to state capture, public pressure pushed Bain out, say Open Secrets’ Zen Mathe and Michael Marchant. Accountability isn’t fast but it’s happening. Happy Anti-Corruption Day!

READ MORE HERE: https://currencynews.co.za/how-bain-co-was-run-out-of-town/

We Can't See the Sunset Documentary Trailer In a country shadowed by smokescreens and broken promises, We Can’t See the Sunset is a haunting journey into the human cost of the climate crisis. Through…

Amazing news! Our documentary, We Can't See the Sunset was just selected by Colorado Environmental Film Festival vimeo.com/1119424683

Fake it ’till you make it: How an SA arms company built UAE armoured vehicles | Daily Maverick <p>The UAE is selling well-equipped armoured vehicles to African states under a ‘Made in Emirates’ label. But documents from a whistleblower show that these are South African-designed vehicles built by the staff of Integrated Convoy Protection, a South African company. The vehicles were built in the UAE by ICP staff using parts exported from South Africa. Whether the exports took place with all necessary legal approvals is disputed and is being investigated by the police. All this takes place...

BREAKING: Post ICP gag order, Open Secrets reveals UAE armoured vehicles may be SA-designed and built — even as the UAE backs factions in Sudan’s genocide

🚨 READ HERE: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-11-27-fake-it-till-you-make-it-how-an-sa-arms-company-built-uae-armoured-vehicles/