Civil society organisations held a media briefing in Johannesburg on Tuesday to
publicise their work in the battle against corruption in South Africa and its impact on the sector’s work in communities. 

The media briefing highlighted the need to take action through initiatives such as Unite Against Corruption, which is holding marches in Pretoria and Cape Town on September 30.

The concerned civil society organisations include SECTION27, Corruption Watch, Equal Education, Right2Know, Amnesty International and Awethu!, as well as research institutes and others academic activists, trade unions, faith-based organisations and the private sector.

A set of key demands has been drafted and will be presented to leaders at the Union buildings in Pretoria and at Parliament in Cape Town during the marches.

The demands include a call to protect and appropriately fund the Office of the Public Protector, the need for government to develop and action emergency plans to identify and root out corruption in key government departments involved in service delivery, taking action against corrupt officials and the need for business to support anti-corruption programmes in their own organisations.

Activities are also being planned in Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and other areas across the country.

The procession in Cape Town will start at 11:00 on Keizergracht street.

The protest in Pretoria will begin at Burger’s Park.

Public interest litigation organisation Accountability Now has voiced its support of the marches and has stated that it will join the campaign in Cape Town. It said in a statement that it believed that an Integrity Commission with the status of a chapter nine institution would be best placed to deal with corruption.

“An Integrity Commission that specialises in anti-corruption work, with properly trained personnel who enjoy security of tenure of office and who are properly resourced with guaranteed and adequate resources and funding are best placed to act independently and without interference in preventing and combating corruption,” Accountability Now said in a statement.