Unions back online anti-corruption campaign

JOHANNESBURG (AP):

A 25-year-old Johannesburg secretary said she was angered, not frightened, when police threatened her and her fiancé and demanded money after a traffic stop. Yesterday, she was hailed as a hero for standing up to the police, and for going to the Internet with her story.

"People need to end this," Tebogo Sehlabane said yesterday at the launch of Corruption Watch, an independent organisation that will use the Web and social media to gather and publicise information about corruption by officials in South Africa. The organisation also plans to hand evidence of crimes over to authorities.

Whistle-blowers are encouraged to submit information anonymously online to the new Corruption Watch site and cellphone-message hotline. The effort, funded by charitable donations, is the brainchild of the trade-union coalition COSATU, which is allied with the governing African National Congress (ANC).

The coalition has repeatedly pressed the ANC to clean up government, saying corruption is draining the country of funds that could be used to build schools and hospitals and create jobs.