Southern Africa Platform

_{Central America | Caribbean | South America and Mexico | West and Sahel Africa | Southern Africa | Eastern Africa | Western Balkans | Central Asia | South East Asia}

The Regional Platform comprises eight countries:

Angola
Botswana
Malawi
Mozambique
Namibia
South Africa
Zambia
Zimbabwe

The Regional Platform for Southern Africa was created through the regional conference held in Livingstone, Zambia from 14 to 18 October 2019.

At the end of the conference, participants, including high-level officials, technical experts, representatives of civil society and development partners, agreed on a set of recommendations to fast-track the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption in the four thematic areas identified as regional priorities.
[Outcome Document - EN | PT]

Following the creation of the platform, the mapping/baselining was conducted first half of 2020. Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, most of the mapping/baselining phase was conducted remotely through consultations with national authorities. Most countries have already completed their mapping/baselining.

The implementation phase was launched in June 2020. A number of activities have been discussed with countries in the region based on the findings made during the mapping/baselining phase that address all four regional priorities. In October 2020 activities on whistleblower protection and interagency coordination started in Zambia. In December 2020, workshops on asset disclosure, whistleblower protection and public procurement were conducted in South Africa.

PRIORITY AREAS

inter-agency cooperation on investigation and prosecution of anti-corruption cases, with a focus on policy development

^{This thematic area is divided into the following main proposed actions:
- Strengthening domestic cooperation among law enforcement agencies, public and
private sector institutions, and civil society;}
^{- Strengthening regional cooperation between law enforcement bodies and
prosecution authorities;}
^{- Building capacity of specialized bodies to investigate and prosecute corruption offences.}

Whistleblowing protection vs. protection of reporting persons in the context of criminal proceedings

^{This thematic area is divided into the following main proposed actions:
- Raising awareness on whistleblowing protection;}
^{- Adopting a comprehensive legal framework on whistleblowing protection and improving
the regulatory framework;}
^{- Improving the effectiveness of protection mechanisms applicable to whistleblowers;}
^{- Improving protective measures applicable to witnesses, including reporting persons in
the context of criminal proceedings;}
^{- Regional and international cooperation.}

Asset disclosure, including asset declaration, detection of illicit enrichment, beneficial ownership and how to undertake increased scrutiny of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs)

^{This thematic area is divided into the following main proposed actions:}^{- Using assets and interest disclosure systems to both prevent corruption, and facilitate
the detection, investigation and prosecution of corruption crimes;}
^{- Strengthening beneficial ownership frameworks.}

Identifying and managing conflict of interest in the context of public procurement

^{This thematic area is divided into the following main proposed actions:
- Ensuring each country’s conflict of interest approach in relation to public procurement
is consistent with global best practices;}
^{- Ensuring in-country harmonization of conflict of interest laws related to public
procurement and where possible seeking opportunities to harmonize such legislation
across the region;}
^{- Strengthening work to prevent conflict of interest within public procurement.}

Civil society

26 CSOs from across the eight platform countries were at the forefront in adopting recommendations alongside governments at the Regional Conference held in October 2019 in Zambia.

A follow-up civil society roundtable to the regional conference was due to take place in Cape Town in September 2020, however, due to the pandemic it was postponed to early 2021.

The Africa Anti-Corruption e-Platform was expanded with the new participants of the conference (over 80 CSO registrations so far), and continuing to grow. ... more