Open Secrets ZA
- Company typePrivate
- Founded-
- HeadquartersCape Town, South Africa
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
Open Secrets ZA firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Open Secrets ZA
- Legal name
- Open Secrets
- Website
- https://opensecrets.org.za
- Company type
- Private
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Open Secrets ZA industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Investigative Research and Advocacy Services
- NAICS
- Investigation and Security Services (5616)
- SIC
- Services-Detective, Guard & Armored Car Services (7381)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Digital/Online Investigations & OSINT (Non-cyber) (BPAKAEAF)
Keywords
Where Open Secrets ZA is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Cape Town
- HQ country
- South Africa
- HQ region
- Africa
Offices1 record
Markets served
Open Secrets ZA business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Donations and Support: The organization accepts donations and support from the public to fund their investigative work into economic crimes and human rights abuses.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels8 records
Open Secrets ZA product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Open Secrets ZA is a non-profit investigative organization that exposes economic crimes and human rights violations through evidence-based research, advocacy, and legal action. It targets private-sector wrongdoing in South Africa and across Africa, particularly in areas of state capture, war profiteering, climate crisis profiteering, and welfare abuse. The organization produces investigative reports, legal submissions, multimedia content, and pursues domestic and international litigation to hold corporations and individuals accountable.
Product overview
Open Secrets ZA is a non-profit investigative organization that operates as a single unified offering rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The organization's core work consists of investigative research, advocacy campaigns, and legal interventions focused on exposing economic crimes and human rights violations. Their product portfolio includes the Who Owns South Africa? investigation series examining private sector concentration, the Unaccountable series profiling war profiteers and arms trade complicity, and four strategic program areas covering climate crisis, state capture, war profiteering, and welfare abuse. Additionally, they produce publications, reports, and multimedia content through Open Secrets TV (YouTube) and Open Secrets Radio (Spotify) channels. The organization does not offer a technology product, API, or software platform.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Open Secrets Investigative Research Evidence-based investigations into economic crimes, state capture, corruption, and human rights violations in South Africa and across Africa, using research, advocacy, and legal mechanisms to hold perpetrators accountable.
- Who Owns South Africa? Investigation Series Ongoing investigative series examining concentration of private power and ownership across South African sectors including healthcare, pensions, telecoms, and other industries.
- Unaccountable Series Investigative series profiling companies and regulators enabling human rights abuses and war profiteering, including arms trade accountability.
- Publications Reports, fact sheets, legal submissions, and media statements documenting economic crimes, corporate accountability cases, and policy advocacy work.
- Open Secrets TV YouTube channel featuring video interviews, documentary content, and multimedia coverage of investigations and advocacy work.
- Open Secrets Radio Podcast content available on Spotify covering investigations, interviews, and discussions on economic crime and corporate accountability.
Companies that use Open Secrets ZA
Customer profileSegments2 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Open Secrets ZA technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Open Secrets ZA partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Legal Resources Centre (LRC)coreOpen Secrets together with the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) and the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF) made a joint submission commenting on the Public Procurement Amendment Bill 2026, addressing gaps to ensure whistleblowers are protected when reporting corruption in public procurement.
- Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF)coreJoint submission with Open Secrets and Legal Resources Centre on the Public Procurement Amendment Bill 2026, focusing on whistleblower protections in the public procurement sector.
- Shadow World Investigations South Africa (SWISA)coreOpen Secrets and Shadow World Investigations South Africa (SWISA) submitted a Joint Report to the Khampepe Commission of Inquiry detailing political interference by the Mbeki administration to prevent investigation and prosecution of criminal allegations.
- Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS)coreOpen Secrets, through its attorneys the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) at Wits University, has filed papers to intervene as a friend of the court (amicus) in the review of the Public Protector's 'Absa-CIEX' report on apartheid-era economic crimes.
- Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC)coreOpen Secrets and SALC launched an urgent Gauteng High Court application to review the export of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and jointly filed for domestic accountability for international arms transfers.
- Corruption Watch (CW)coreCorruption Watch and the Right2Know (R2K) Campaign launched an application in the High Court to review and set aside the findings of the Arms Procurement Commission (Seriti Commission).
- Right2Know Campaign (R2K)coreCorruption Watch and the Right2Know (R2K) Campaign jointly challenged the Seriti Commission findings in the High Court, seeking accountability for the arms deal scandal.
- Benefits ExchangeminorBenefits Exchange operates a free search engine that helped readers track down over R650,000 in unclaimed benefits, as featured in Open Secrets' reporting on pensions.
Scale indicators1 record
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Open Secrets ZA competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Legal Resources Centre (LRC): South Africa's largest public-interest law firm; partners with Open Secrets and PPLAAF on the Public Procurement Amendment Bill whistleblower submission. Comparable civil-society legal-aid and impact-litigation mandate.
- Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS): Wits University-based public-interest law centre that acts as Open Secrets' attorneys on amicus and OECD filings (KBC/KBL apartheid complaint). Comparable legal-advocacy function on corporate accountability and economic-justice litigation.
- Global Witness: International investigative NGO exposing corruption, conflict-resource profiteering, and climate-crime. Comparable to Open Secrets in mission (corporate accountability for economic crimes and human-rights abuses) and in combining investigations with advocacy and legal action, though operating at much greater global scale.
- Corruption Watch: South African anti-corruption civil-society organization that co-litigates with Open Secrets on high-profile matters such as the Seriti Commission arms-deal review. Directly comparable in mission (anti-corruption advocacy) and legal-strategy orientation.
- Shadow World Investigations (SWISA): South African investigative NGO focused on arms trade, corruption, and state capture. Directly comparable to Open Secrets in scope, methodology (evidence-based investigations into economic crimes), and partner activity (joint Khampepe Commission submission).
- Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF): Africa-focused whistleblower-protection NGO that co-files submissions with Open Secrets (Public Procurement Amendment Bill). Comparable anti-corruption and accountability mandate, with complementary expertise on whistleblower pathways.
- amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism: Leading South African investigative journalism centre exposing state capture and corporate corruption. Comparable to Open Secrets as a domestic investigative outlet, though amaBhungane focuses more on journalism and Open Secrets more on legal interventions and advocacy.
- Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC): Regional human-rights litigation NGO that co-filed the Yemen arms-trade High Court application with Open Secrets. Comparable in using strategic litigation as an accountability tool against economic crimes and human-rights abuses.
- Right2Know Campaign (R2K): South African civil-society coalition promoting access to information and anti-corruption; co-applicant with Corruption Watch on the Seriti Commission review alongside Open Secrets' work. Comparable advocacy-and-litigation model.
Broad incumbents
- Public Eye: Swiss investigative and advocacy NGO exposing corporate misconduct in trade, finance, and commodities. Comparable thematic focus on corporate accountability for human-rights and economic harms, though Public Eye operates from a more established European funding and institutional base.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Open Secrets ZA social profiles
Digital presenceOpen Secrets ZA financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Open Secrets ZA leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
Open Secrets ZA funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Open Secrets ZA M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Open Secrets ZA
What does Open Secrets ZA do?
Open Secrets ZA is a non-profit investigative organization that exposes economic crimes and human rights violations through evidence-based research, advocacy, and legal action. It targets private-sector wrongdoing in South Africa and across Africa, particularly in areas of state capture, war profiteering, climate crisis profiteering, and welfare abuse. The organization produces investigative reports, legal submissions, multimedia content, and pursues domestic and international litigation to hold corporations and individuals accountable.
Is Open Secrets ZA a public or private company?
Open Secrets ZA is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Open Secrets ZA founded?
Open Secrets ZA was founded in -1. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Open Secrets ZA based?
Open Secrets ZA is headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, in the Africa region.
How does Open Secrets ZA make money?
One revenue line is on record: donations and Support.
Who are Open Secrets ZA's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Legal Resources Centre (LRC), Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), Global Witness, Corruption Watch, Shadow World Investigations (SWISA), Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF), amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism, Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC) and Right2Know Campaign (R2K). Public Eye is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Open Secrets ZA have an API?
No public API is recorded for Open Secrets ZA.
What industry is Open Secrets ZA in?
Open Secrets ZA's product category is Investigative Research and Advocacy Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAKAEAF, Digital/Online Investigations & OSINT (Non-cyber). Its NAICS code is 5616 and its SIC code is 7381.