Open Secrets headed to the Concourt as the admitted amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) in the case between MTN’s international corporate actors (MTN) and East Asia Consortium (EAC), which was heard by the Constitutional Court on 31 August 2026. Whilst we await judgement, it's important to note that corruption has devastating impacts on the protection of human rights. Open Secrets believes strongly that private corporations which use their extensive power and resources to commit human rights abuses elsewhere, should face accountability here at home. This should apply regardless of who that corporation is. Read the FULL statement here: opensecrets.org.za/open-secr…

What is the deal with data centres and what could their rapid expansion mean for Cape Town’s communities? Join us tomorrow for a public hearing to unpack the intersecting issues, share ideas and build collective solutions for what comes next! Location: Central Methodist Mission, Greenmarket Square, Cape Town Time: 9:00 - 12:30pm, Saturday,23 September 2026 RSVP here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F…

UPDATE: South African journalist Micah Reddy is free and safe. According to his brother, Niall Reddy, Micah has been deported from Djibouti and is on his way back to South Africa. We are relieved to hear that Micah is safe and hope that his local colleague, Kooki Mahmoud, is also safe and free.

South African investigative journalist Micah Reddy has disappeared in Djibouti. His local colleague Kooki Mahmoud is also missing. They work for @ICIJorg. We call on the Government of Djibouti to urgently help ensure they are found. We all need to put pressure where we can to ensure their safe return. Please share this widely.

Open Secrets’ documentary We Can’t See the Sunset (2025) will be screened at Ubuntu Hub, Joburg on 22 September! The documentary reveals the climate costs borne by the communities living at the margins. South Africa’s energy crisis, one built off extraction, power and profit, bears the weight not only of an unjust past but an uncertain future. In a time where mass extinction looms, We Can’t See the Sunset becomes not only a witness to loss, but a testament to the enduring hope. 🎥 RSVP for the documentary here: acaforms.org.za/signup_V2.ph… 🎨 RSVP here for the linocut workshop: acaforms.org.za/signup_V2.ph…

We are once again getting down and dirty in the fight against fossil fuels with @AfrClimAlliance! 🌍 On Climate Week's Energy Accountability Day in Joburg, we will be hosting a linocut artivism workshop as well as another screening of our documentary, We Can't See the Sunset (2025). Sign up for creative ways to engage with climate activism! 🎨 Spots are free but limited, so make sure to rsvp here: acaforms.org.za/signup_V2.ph… 🎥 RSVP for the documentary here: acaforms.org.za/signup_V2.ph…

Read our final installment of Digital Profiteers! The third article analyses a key feature of the income verification of grant recipients – combatting fraud. Government is increasing vigilance on what it deems ‘abuse’ of the social grants system by individual grant beneficiaries. But what is considered fraud? And how does it impact grant recipients above all else? 🚨 READ MORE HERE: dailymaverick.co.za/article/…

Several former Bain consultants linked to the SARS State Capture project moved to Boston Consulting Group (BCG) soon after Bain’s role was exposed. This raises fundamental questions about the extent to which private consulting firms have infiltrated all parts of our states and politics, and the need for more effective regulation of those who are implicated in wrongdoing that has serious public consequences. What does this mean for accountability for corporate enablers of State Capture? Read The Full Article Here: dailymaverick.co.za/article/…

Jane Borman (Lawyer at Open Secrets) interviews with Ashraf Garda on the National Pulse (SA FM) on the MTN and East Asia Consortium case that took place on 31 August. Jane details the arguments put forward, in answering "Can South African corporations be held accountable in South African courts for alleged wrongdoing carried out beyond the country’s borders?" Listen to the full interview here: omny.fm/shows/the-national-p…

South Africa’s energy future is a burning issue, and civil society is on the front line, challenging potentially unlawful and opaque projects and holding the corporate and government actors behind them to account. “South Africa’s energy future is no longer determined only by government departments, new climate legislation, or even the Just Energy Transition Framework…It is being hammered out in court by communities and non-profits stopping unlawful projects, protecting public funds and insisting that new projects are evidence-based and benefit – rather than bypass – the people they claim to serve.” Read the full article here: dailymaverick.co.za/article/…

Who gets the power and who gets left in the dark? In a country where energy-poverty remains unresolved with the lack of access to reliable, clean and affordable energy, the expansion of data centres further threatens the social and economic disparities that South Africans face. We call on government to develop a regulatory framework for data centre developments that puts people and their rights before the interests of major technology companies. Read our full article here: groundup.org.za/article/sout…

(3/3) CCT 119/25 Freedom Phuthuma Nhleko v East Asian Consortium BV, CCT 121/25 MTN Group Limited v East Asian Consortium BV and CCT 124/25 Irene Charnley v East Asian Consortium BV

(2/3) Does the foreign act of state doctrine prevent South African courts from determining the lawfulness of sovereign acts undertaken by Iran within its territory, and how should the doctrine operate under the Constitution?

1/3) Hearing on Monday, 31 August and Tuesday, 1 September 2026 at 10h00: Does Article 29 of Iran’s Tender Regulations require that disputes relative to the Regulations or call for tenders be submitted to Iranian Courts?

LIVESTREAM | SRD GRANT APPEAL – SUPREME COURT OF APPEAL HEARING The Supreme Court of Appeal is hearing the State’s appeal against the landmark High Court judgment in the SRD grant case today. 📺 Watch the livestream: piped.video/live/gbD1aXJX0Xk…

As data centres rapidly expand across South Africa, we need to ask: what will they cost our communities? Open Secrets alongside @Foxglovelegal, @housingassembly, Research + Action, Planetary AI and @LRCSouthAfrica have made a submission to the SAHRC calling for: 🔎 Radical transparency and a national regulatory framework 📊 Independent assessments of human rights, environmental and economic impacts ⏸️ Consideration of a temporary pause on new hyper scale data centres 👀 Independent monitoring of water, electricity and land use, with consequences for violations Read the full piece in Daily Maverick: dailymaverick.co.za/article/…

This morning's hearing on the SRD Grant in the High Court of Appeal is one of the most consequential since the dawn of democracy. It's outcome will affect the lives of over 30 million South Africans (if you take into account the 18 million people who are legally entitled to receive the grant plus their dependents). Siyanda Baduza @IEJ_SA researcher brilliantly sets out the issues at stake in the case. piped.video/JhK2bMEWzLA?si=vXUg…