| Hi there, This week we've had some long-awaited encouraging news.
On Thursday, Jacob Zuma resigned as president of South Africa under pressure from his own party. Zuma, who has been in power since 2009, faces numerous corruption charges. We’ve been calling for his resignation for some time, particularly after South African Public Protector and recipient of our Integrity Award in 2014 Thuli Madonsela published a report on state capture in South Africa in November 2016.
The report highlighted how public officials in South Africa took bribes to award contracts to the private sector, and how Zuma’s ties to the controversial Gupta family empire have compromised the running of the state.
David Lewis, executive director of Corruption Watch, our chapter in South Africa, called the removal of Jacob Zuma "a victory of the people of South Africa" but urged civil society and media to remain vigilant in the coming weeks and months. On Wednesday next week, we will release our Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). This year we show just how important an active civil society and a free media are for the fight against corruption. It's a nexus that has also been making news in Hungary, as concerns that Prime Minister Victor Orbán's inner circle are getting rich from EU-funded public contracts have made headlines, at the same time as a draft law to curtail space for NGOs comes before Parliament. Check out our website from 18:00 GMT on Wednesday 21 February for the full CPI scores and rankings, and all our news and analysis of this year's results. | 