Democracy & Social Justice

In 2016, 144 people with mental illness, lost their lives. They died in the care of the South African public health system, from neglect and starvation. They died at the hands of those who were supposed to protect them. We must not forget. We must hold government to account so that mental health is not forgotten. We must remember to ensure it never happens again.

Who are the shady corporate bosses who derailed Prasa? In this instalment of Unaccountable, we shine a light on Roy Moodley, a politically connected businessman whom employees at the state-owned railway company would call ‘Mr Prasa’, according to testimony at the Zondo Commission.

The ‘Big Four’ audit firms — Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC — all play a systemic role in economic crimes and State Capture.

If there is one thing that 27 years of raising this democracy has taught us, it is that genuinely democratic institutions cannot stand or flourish in landscapes of injustice. Now is precisely the time to build a state that cares for the many, not the few.

The people of Mozambique have been battered by devastating cyclones and an increasingly virulent armed insurgency in the north of the country. The backdrop is a country battling State Capture. This involves a coterie of corrupt politicians, multinational corporations and international banks.

In installment 00024 of Unaccountable we focused on middleman Auswell Mashaba and his shelf company Swifambo Rail Leasing, which was used as a front by Vossloh España to secure a lucrative contract with Prasa that resulted in the SOE spending billions on trains that were too tall for SA railways. This week we turn to the German railway giant Vossloh, and its Spanish subsidiary, Vossloh España, which fraudulently secured the R3.5bn contract through a process riddled with serious procurement irregularities, fronting and suspicious payments.