Programme Director, Xolani Gwala, Mphephethwa
Honourable Minister Jeff Radebe
The steadfast Public Protector Thuli Madonsela
Distinguished members of the Corruption Watch Board
President of COSATU and members of the COSATU CEC
Ladies and Gentlemen
All Corruption-Hating South Africans
Members of the Media

In this historic year when we celebrate the centenary of the oldest liberation movement in Africa, in the 18th year of our democracy and after 26 years of COSATU’s existence, we gather at this historic Constitutional Court – a court which is vested with the responsibility to ensure that our Constitution is upheld at all times and that all South Africans benefit from the rights enshrined in it.

We are extremely honoured to witness the successful implementation of another critical resolution of COSATU and civil society, the official launch of the long awaited Corruption Watch. A dream has come true – a dream to empower our people so that they may play a more meaningful role in a battle to combat the scourge of corruption.

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I spoke at the UCT Summer School on the history and future of social activism in South Africa and the world. My strong belief is that only an active citizenry aware of its rights and organised to confront the arbitrary use of political or corporate power is capable of ensuring democracy we promised our people and the contract we have to deliver a better life to our people in 1994 is implemented. The ongoing attacks on our Constitution, the ramming of the Secrecy law through Parliament and the growing scandal of public corruption seeks to reverse the hard struggle we fought for freedom and our human rights as well as our demand for accountable, transparent and efficient governance.

Visit the UCT Summer School website where you can download the podcast on my lecture here.

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Read this interview recently posted in DRUM Magazine in Kenya on my life as an activist during the Apartheid era.

“All life is equal”  is the philosophy Jay Naidoo, the acclaimed political and social activist from South Africa lives by. Involved in activism from an early age, Jay Naidoo, born Jayaseelan Naidoo in 1954 in the port city of Durban, South Africa, has achievements that can leave you open-mouthed.

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The Green Revolution remains one of the most successful drivers of economic development in the 20th century, enabling food production to keep pace with a doubling of global population from three billion in the 1960s to seven billion in 2011. Increases in staple food crop yields tripled during that period, reducing the percentage of malnourished people from 41 per cent in 1960 to 16 per cent in 2000 in Asia alone. Although the Green Revolution is credited with keeping food prices historically low, the global food system is failing today in two major ways: it is unsustainable and consumes resources faster than can be naturally replenished, and it contributes to extreme poverty, suffering and disease. ‘Adequate food for all’ must thus include the ability of the food system to nourish and fuel humanity equitably and sustainably. The future of humanity rests on being able to do more with less.

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Love stories where corporate greed is hammered by struggles of ordinary people. Gives me hope that we will reign in the arbitrary power of economic and political elites if we are more organized and strategic.

Chevron-Texaco judgment upheld in Ecuador

firstperson.oxfamamerica.org

The case of Aguinda vs. Texaco in Ecuador is back in the news: The plaintiffs won an appeal and now have the right to seize the assets of Chevron-Texaco anywhere in the world. It’s another stunning legal victory for the farmers and indigenous people of Ecuador’s Oriente who have been fighting this … BY CHRIS HUFSTADER

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The Corruption Watch is officially opening its doors for business this month. This initiative has been set up by COSATU and is constituted as an independent, non-profit company. Corruption Watch’s mission is to assist civil society to hold accountable those who supply, procure, use and distribute public resources. Their principal means of promoting transparency and accountability in the use of public resources will be information – information gathered from the public, the media and other sources, analysed by the staff of Corruption Watch and disseminated to the public and their organisations in a form that allows them to ensure that public resources are used for the benefit of the public and not for private gain.

Corruption Watch will come in the form of an interactive website, sms-line and call-centre to report corruption in both the Public and Private Sectors.  Corruption Watch’s initial campaign will be to ask South Africans to commit to a simple pledge. Those attending the launch will be asked to sign the pledge online which is appended to this invitation.

Venue: Constitutional Hill, Johannesburg

Date: 26  January 2012

Go to www.corruptionwatch.co.za for more information.