Integrity Score 4262
No Records Found
No Records Found
No Records Found
Every person in South Africa has the right to a functioning local government that can provide basic services such as clean water, electricity and sanitation. But corruption has left much of this sphere of government unable to fulfil its role.
The watchdog organisation Corruption Watch, which is the South African chapter of Transparency International, received 5,094 reports of corruption in local government from 2012 to 2020.
Most of the disclosures were by whistleblowers in the offices of the municipal managers and the police departments. Whistleblowers are people who report actions that are illegal, fraudulent, criminal, or corrupt – often within their own organisations. They often find their lives at risk and irrevocably changed as a result. They sometimes lose their jobs or even get killed.
Moss Phakoe, a councillor in the Bojanala Platinum District Municipality in North West province, was shot in 2009 after exposing corruption by councillors and officials.
Babita Deokaran, a key witness in the investigation of an allegedly corrupt multi-million rand tender in Gauteng province, was shot dead in August 2021.
I recently concluded a doctoral thesis in which I critically explored, from the perspective of the law, how corruption in local government can be prevented.
A subsection of my thesis examined legal protections for whistleblowers in the country, and how they might be improved. This part of the study was limited to analysis of legal literature as well as international and national laws and policies.
The findings show that South Africa’s whistleblower protection regime is too restrictive. It protects certain disclosures only, leaving many whistleblowers unprotected.
I also found that witness protection is only used in exceptional circumstances, leaving many whistleblowers exposed to danger. The research further showed that the country could benefit from amending certain pieces of legislation to improve protection. That might encourage more people to report public sector corruption, which is rampant.
Weighing whistleblower protection
My research shows that whistleblower protection in South African law and policy has two main components. The first relates to witnesses in criminal offences.
Read more: https://theconversation.com/whistleblowers-in-south-africa-have-some-protection-but-gaps-need-fixing-183992