What challenges do whistle-blowers face in South Africa's battle against corruption?
Image: Supplied
While South Africa has implemented various anti-corruption laws, including a National Anti-Corruption Strategy, concerns have been raised about the ineffective whistle-blower mechanisms and the whistle-blowing framework, which limits the reporting of wrongdoing.
Among key anti-corruption laws that have been amended are the Prevention of Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, the Anti-Money Laundering Legislation General Laws, and the National Prosecution Authority Amendment Act, which stemmed from the Zondo Commission Report.
Mary de Haas, a KwaZulu-Natal violence monitor, said whistle-blowers' lives are at risk, and it seems that politicians are untouchable, as corruption continues and often leads back to politicians.
She mentioned at least two whistle-blowers whose lives are at risk after they exposed corruption. People in government, from the president down, are promising help for whistle-blowers, but there is nothing, she said.
Video Player is loading.
Play Video
Play
Unmute
Current Time
0:00
/
Duration
-:-
Loaded :
0%
Stream Type LIVE
Seek to live, currently behind live
LIVE
Remaining Time
-
0:00
This is a modal window.
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque
Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps
Reset
restore all settings to the default values Done
Close Modal Dialog
End of dialog window.
Advertisement
Next
Stay
Close ✕
Ad loading
'Patricia Mashale was a very senior admin person within the police, and she reported corruption to the then National police commissioner General Khehla Sitole about Free State management corruption. He (Sitole) sent it back to them, and her life became endangered.
'Mashale can't live with her children because her house is under surveillance, and there is no financial support for whistle-blowers. How could people live when they have lost a job, have been illegally dismissed, and they can't live in their own homes because they are under surveillance and may get killed?' De Haas asked.
She said, Warrant Officer Meshack Makhubo, who opened the second docket in the Senzo Meyiwa case, is also in danger.
'There was an attack on his home. It wasn't just a break-in attack. It was an onslaught on his home. They want him dead because he knows too much about corruption in the police and the cover-up in the Meyiwa case..
'I have been informed that a lot of people now just keep quiet even when they know about corruption. They just go with it because when you open your mouth or you show that you are reporting it, your job is the first thing on the line. A lot of the dismissals are swift, and the Labour Court has confirmed they are illegal,' De Haas said.
She added that the other thing they do is bring a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) suit, which is filed to silence or intimidate someone who has spoken out about a matter of public interest.
'I've got one against me, which is nonsense. I mean, there is no substance in it at all, but they try to shut you up by threatening to sue you if you report them. That's how bad it is,' she said.
Devoshum Moodley-Veera, an integrity activist, PhD student at the School of Public Leadership and ACCERUS at Stellenbosch University, said there has been a lot of talk around the amendment of the Protected Disclosures Act for years, but it is yet to be seen whether law alone can assist in whistle-blower protection.
'Whistle-blowing is multi-faceted with several role players involved, yet we see a blame culture on whose role is it to protect whistle-blowers. With the laws not providing a dedicated institution to deal with whistle-blowing complaints, I am afraid that retaliation will increase under the current whistle-blowing framework, as we have seen severe cases such as Babita Deokaran and Pamela Kabini,' Moodley-Veera said.
She added that the Feinstein and Devine report of 2021 examined the sufficiency of the primary whistle-blower laws by juxtaposing 17 countries with the standards established by the European Union Whistleblowing Directive (2019/1937).
South Africa met only five of the 20 criteria to be included in whistle-blowing laws, which makes whistle-blowing legislation ineffective in South Africa.
Moodley-Veera said the country can be commended for a number of anti-corruption initiatives, however, the implementation remains weak.
'The Transparency International Corruption Perception Index is used to measure anti-corruption effectiveness. Thus far, South Africa has scored 41, the same as the previous year, showing no progress. The score is below the global average of 43, having dropped by three points since 2019. It should be noted that this index shows perceived levels of corruption in the public sector, not the number of cases reported or experiences of the public,' Moodley-Veera said.
She highlighted that there is a trust deficit in the country, and citizens would like to see action and accountability, which are severely lacking.
'Action should be taken. Institutions should appoint competent, ethical leadership to implement these initiatives. Legislation should be reformed, and laws should be developed to address the current context and situation in the country. The use of Western laws does not help the country in its current state,' she said.
During the State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government had started taking steps to expose and punish corrupt activities in the public and private sectors, to reform institutions, making them stronger, more transparent, and restoring a professional and effective public service.
He said the NPA Investigating Directorate had at that time enrolled over 34 corruption cases, charged 202 accused individuals, and 65 accused entities.
'We are making progress in the fight against corruption with over 1,300 corruption convictions in four years, including 500 government officials. R14.18 billion assets frozen in corruption and state capture cases. Thirty-four cases were enrolled, involving over 200 accused persons, including former ministers and some of the largest corporate companies in the country, such as McKinsey and ABB.
'The NPA has finalised a comprehensive settlement agreement with company ABB to pay over a further R2.5bn in 'punitive reparations to South Africa' for its part in state capture. This adds to the R6 billion ABB already paid to Eskom in 2020,' Ramaphosa said.
Moodley-Veera explained that the challenges experienced with asset recovery by the Asset Forfeiture Unit and Investigating Directorate, both positioned within the National Prosecuting Authority, are the slow disposal rates of cases, which lead to high management costs and high recovery costs, resulting in loss of value.
The high costs of appointing curators to manage the frozen assets as part of property management. There is also a lack of technical and forensic skills within these institutions for asset recovery. This lack of technical skills results in unsuccessful confiscation proceedings. There is also a lack of capacity, inadequate budgets, poor collaboration, political interference in the criminal justice system and the law enforcement agencies, Moodley-Veera explained.
She added that one of the biggest successes of anti-corruption efforts in South Africa was that the late Dudu Myeni (former South African Airways chairperson) was found to be a delinquent director by the courts under the Companies Act. This was after the state capture proceedings.
'Another success is that due to transparency, the State Capture commission proceedings were broadcast in the media, and also the report was shared with the public. There has also been more public awareness around whistle-blowing, and some of the biggest cases of retaliation were made public. This shows that whistle-blowing is indeed one of the tools to be used for anti-corruption measures. As a country, we have also seen the vital role played by media and civil society organisations in addressing corruption in South Africa.
'However, there are persistent challenges such as ineffective whistle-blowing laws, cases that are delayed, high costs of litigation, and regulators and state institutions lacking independence to deal with corruption cases. There is also a lack of resources to deal with cases,' she said.
'Civil society organisations have come together to develop and launch the Zondo Tracker to also oversee the implementation of the Zondo recommendations,' Moodley-Veera said.
She added that anti-corruption initiatives should not be seen as a responsibility of the state only, but should be a collaborative effort to achieve a society that is free from fraud and corruption.
gcwalisile.khanyile@inl.co.za
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TimesLIVE
5 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
Higher funding limits in Political Funding Act 'will promote secrecy'
The proclamation that doubled the disclosure threshold and annual donation limit in the Political Funding Act will deepen secrecy in political funding and make it easier for private interests to influence our politics and for corruption to occur. This is the view of My Vote Counts (MVC) after a proclamation signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa was published in the Government Gazette on Monday. The new annual donation limit will be R30m, up from R15m, and the new disclosure threshold will be R200,000, up from R100,000. 'This is indeed a setback for our democracy. We cannot allow those in power to jeopardise our democracy and water down constitutionally protected rights for their narrow, self-serving interests,' said MVC's project lead on money in politics, Joel Bregman. He said politics required funding and the role parties played in a democratic system was vital. 'But there needs to be a balance between ensuring that parties are adequately funded, and that such funding is regulated and mitigates the risk of undue influence from donors.' Bregman said the immediate impact of a higher disclosure threshold and donation limit was that there would be more secrecy in political funding. 'The details of all donations under R200,000 will not be known to the public. This is an enormous sum for most South Africans and donations of such amounts should be made public knowledge to facilitate scrutiny of parties' relationships with donors and ensure that donors are not receiving anything in return.' He said the state has never provided a legitimate reason all donations should not be disclosed to the public. 'The past four years of disclosure data show that a handful of wealthy individuals dominate our private political funding landscape. Doubling the amount a donor can donate to a party in a year to R30m will give donors an even greater ability to have an outsize influence on our political system.' Bregman said the change would make parties more susceptible to undue influence. 'And because the law does not regulate donations from related parties through the different legal entities they control, wealthy donors can now have an even more significant impact.' Bregman said when the Political Funding Act was first developed in 2017, MVC was concerned that the original limits would dilute the act, but nevertheless celebrated the fact that, for the first time, the country had a law that provided 'a light into the darkness'. MVC said while recognising the act's importance, it was clear that the law had many defects that limited its ability to achieve its objectives. In 2023, the MVC initiated legal proceedings to challenge the constitutionality of the act and the case was heard before a full bench of the Western Cape High Court in February 2025. 'A key component of our challenge is that the original limits were not formulated with reference to empirical evidence and were therefore irrational and unlawful.' MVC asked the court to find the limits unconstitutional and refer them back to parliament for remedying. Judgment is pending. 'Should our case succeed, the amendments to the act will be set aside with full retrospective effect, including the determination of these new limits. While we await judgment, we are considering other legal options to address the president's action.' Bregman said MVC will be writing to Ramaphosa to request that he release the reasons and full record of factors that were considered as he applied his mind to the matter.
Daily Maverick
5 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Right goals but poor execution hampering SA's vital National Dialogue
With inclusive economic growth, the Rainbow Nation dream is possible, but can an ANC-dominated dialogue deliver? Amid significant discord, South Africa's year-long National Dialogue began in Pretoria last week. The process aims to forge a new social compact and essentially lay the groundwork for the next phase of the country's National Development Plan. It would be a wasted opportunity if the dialogue's rocky start stymied progress towards achieving these two compelling goals. Before the launch, the dialogue's proposed large budget, lack of civil society engagement and rushed process stirred public anger. Then a public spat broke out between President Cyril Ramaphosa and former president Thabo Mbeki, when the latter felt piqued that the government and not the Preparatory Task Team — in which his foundation played a key role — was in the driving seat. Eventually, several legacy foundations, which had assumed a leadership role in preparing for the process, walked out in protest. The Democratic Alliance, the second-largest party in the Government of National Unity (GNU) after Ramaphosa's African National Congress (ANC), had also withdrawn earlier. Mbeki was the first to call for a national dialogue to be held after the May 2024 general elections, which would address corruption, service delivery failures and the systemic decay in governance. During those elections, the ANC suffered an unprecedented 17 percentage point drop in support, forcing it to establish a GNU that eventually included 10 parties. There is considerable suspicion that the dialogue is intended to resuscitate the political fortunes of the ANC before the 2026 local and 2029 national elections. Those concerns seemed validated when, instead of drawing inspiration from South Africa's widely hailed 1994 Constitution, Ramaphosa said the dialogue would draw on the 1955 Congress of the People and Freedom Charter — which underpin ANC policy. Without a solid foundation and clarity of purpose, never mind budget and structure, current prospects for the dialogue are not promising. An updated forecast from the African Futures team at the Institute for Security Studies reveals that South Africa's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita has stagnated or steadily declined since 2013, with a brief upturn in 2018. On its current growth trajectory, the country will recover to its 2013 level in 2039, implying 26 lost years. Even in a high-growth scenario, that point would, at best, be reached in 2032, some years after the next national elections. It is widely reported that South Africa has the highest unemployment and inequality rates globally. As if we are not doing badly enough, our foreign policy is among the reasons the United States has imposed 30% punitive trade tariffs on South Africa. The ANC has been in power since 1994, so cannot escape primary responsibility for this dismal state of affairs. The dialogue's goal of forging a social compact speaks to the extent of national disharmony — a situation not unique to South Africa. Instead of the unifying vision of a Rainbow Nation, the ANC has prolonged the racialised politics of the past. Policies intended to promote inclusion do so selectively and perpetuate inequality. Instead of fixing structural drivers to enable broad empowerment — such as quality education, health and access to opportunity — a host of race-based policies smother the economy. Examples are preferential procurement policies and the Employment Equity Amendment Act. This comes on top of weak implementation, lack of consequence management and widespread corruption in the government. Somewhere, the ANC has lost its way and the extent of its corruption, incompetence and internal fractures is on daily display in the media. What is left of the party's ideological core is provided by former members of its politicised armed wing, Umkhonto weSizwe, who today form the centre of resistance within the ANC to Ramaphosa. The latest example was the chief of the South African National Defence Force's calculated call for closer relations with Iran — at a time when South Africa is trying to negotiate a reduction in US tariffs. SA in search of its mojo South Africa is in search of its mojo, largely as a result of the ANC's loss of moral purpose. The party is widely expected to do badly in the forthcoming local and general elections, but is likely to remain the largest political party nationally. What happens in the ANC should therefore be of concern to all South Africans. The way forward on the dialogue's second goal is clear — draw up a follow-on National Development Plan that has the broadest political, business, labour and civil society support, thus enabling it to survive beyond the 2029 elections. That requires four steps. First, harmonising the National Planning Commission and its work with the Eminent Persons Group appointed to guide the National Dialogue. Second, undertaking a comprehensive diagnostic analysis, as was done before the current National Development Plan. Third, crafting the follow-on plan through wide consultations and expert inputs, and fourth, taking it out for public engagement, amendment and finalisation. South Africa should align its planning horizon with the third 10-year implementation plan of the African Union's Agenda 2063. Its foreign and trade policies should focus on the continent, which objectively presents the most lucrative opportunities. The dialogue's first goal is more difficult but perhaps ultimately most important. In simple terms, South Africans need to recapture the dream of the Rainbow Nation, where poor people are not black, but simply poor people and where business is not white, but simply business. Even the Chapter 9 institutions created to promote equity and justice view pronouncements on race through the lens of past injustice, which is understandable but unhelpful in the context of our development challenges. South Africa needs to pursue a common citizenship and commitment to the future. Rekindling that non-racial vision could be the dialogue's largest contribution. But racial disparities in wealth, employment and education make this challenging, especially as race-based analyses have animated ANC breakaway parties, such as the Economic Freedom Fighters and the new uMkhonto Wesizwe party. Such analysis is also entrenched in most ANC factions. This does not mean sweeping the past under the carpet. But scratch deeply enough, and most countries have a brutal past. Ours is just more recent than most. How does South Africa forge a post-apartheid future when policies that are intended to promote inclusion undermine it? The National Dialogue's two objectives are closely linked. Only sustained, inclusive economic growth will allow us to deal with the results of our divided past and ameliorate its effects. To unlock growth, the country needs all hands on deck, particularly from those with the largest stock of education, wealth and access to finance. Unfortunately, given its shaky start, they are most likely to remain on the dialogue's periphery.
Daily Maverick
5 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Between symbolism and superficiality — why the National Convention fell short on path to SA's political centre
Last week South Africa hosted its inaugural National Convention, as part of the National Dialogue process. For those of us who have long argued for a citizen-led process to rethink and renew our democratic compact, the mere fact of its convening was a modest triumph. The symbolism of President Cyril Ramaphosa's presence lent the event a measure of legitimacy. The head of state's endorsement is no small matter in a political environment where similar civil society and faith-based initiatives have often withered due to a lack of coordination and resourcing. Yet, the real test of democratic renewal is not in symbolic gestures. It is in the design, execution and follow-through of such processes. On those fronts, the convention fell short, for now. The promise of dialogue At its core, the idea of a national dialogue is to bring together diverse voices across society to deliberate on our shared challenges and chart a way forward. Last week's event managed to gather an impressive range of participants – civil society leaders, business figures, political representatives and ordinary citizens. South Africans showed that there is still an appetite for a collective conversation about the future of the country. But dialogue is not mere talking. It requires a carefully crafted architecture, a seriousness of content and a level of facilitation that rises above the pedestrian. Here, the gathering faltered. Delays and disruptions plagued the programme, the facilitation often lacked the professionalism demanded by the moment, and the choice of speakers and facilitators seemed more about superficial political choreography than intellectual and technocratic depth. What should have been a laboratory of visionary ideas resembled a pageant of miniature personal speeches. Why design matters If one overlays this experience onto the model below, of participative democracy (see diagram), the weaknesses become clear. At present, our political process remains trapped in the top-down, centralised quadrant – dominated by state institutions, government authority and legal frameworks. This is necessary, but not sufficient. Such institutions provide order and continuity, but they are vulnerable to capture and vested interests, as South Africans know all too well. The national dialogue is meant to be a centre-out process: an effort to radiate participation beyond government, enabling citizens to reclaim agency. Yet the execution left participants oscillating between symbolism and superficiality. Without moving deliberately through the four quadrants of participatory democracy, the President's broad-tent risks replicating the same narrow, precarious forms of legitimacy that are already failing us. Moving through the quadrants To construct enduring political legitimacy, South Africa must do the hard work of traversing all four domains of democratic life, in their rightful order: Institutions of community and social networks (bottom-up, decentralised): Local organisations, cooperatives, faith networks and digital communities are where legitimacy begins. These groups carry the lived experience of citizens. Unless they are systematically included, dialogue remains elite-driven and exclusionary; Institutions of collective organisation (bottom-up, centralised): Political parties, unions, media and civil society forums aggregate citizen voices into national platforms. This is where local grievances become national issues, and where social contracts begin to take shape; Institutions of belonging (top-down, decentralised): Simultaneously, traditional authorities and professional associations, though often hierarchical, give communities identity and voice. Ignoring them creates blind spots in representation; and Institutions of command (top-down, centralised): In the end, and only then, the state, judiciary and security services must anchor whatever compact emerges. They hold the instruments of law and enforcement that can translate consensus into binding outcomes. A national dialogue that fails to move between and across these quadrants will remain lopsided – either a state-driven project lacking legitimacy, or a citizen-driven project lacking authority. The centre as destination The purpose of this exercise is not dialogue for its own sake. It is to arrive at the political centre – that fragile space where legitimacy is forged through the balance of bottom-up energy, decentralised networks and centralised organisation, to arrive at top-down authority as an expression of the public will, not narrow and vested interests. In this centre lies the possibility of an actionable social compact: a binding agreement among South Africans about the priorities we must pursue and the responsibilities each sector must shoulder. Nelson Mandela called for a 'RDP of the heart'. What we now need is a social compact of the heart and hands, not driven by the state of government, but anchored in the activation of citizens, who hold their state and government officials accountable. This week's inaugural dialogue showed both the possibilities and pitfalls of the journey. The presence of the President and the gathering of diverse actors demonstrated potential. But the shallow facilitation, the delays and the lack of robust content revealed how easily such processes can slip into hollow and preformist ritual. If we are serious about democratic renewal, we must now treat design as destiny. That means professional facilitation, credible agenda-setting and a disciplined commitment to inclusivity. It means moving deliberately through the quadrants of participatory democracy, ensuring that no voice is excluded and no sector is dominant. And it means recognising that legitimacy is not gifted by the head of state alone – legitimacy must be earned through a process that is transparent, citizen-led and action-oriented. A drum beat South Africa does not lack dialogue. We lack effective dialogue that can deliver actionable outcomes. The inaugural National Convention has given us a starting point. The task now is to create a drum beat of engagement that can turn that starting point into a national renewal project. Legitimacy in a participative democracy is not found at the extremes of command or protest. It is found at the centre – painstakingly constructed through engagement, inclusion and shared sacrifice. Our challenge, and our opportunity, is to make this inaugural step the first movement in a dance that takes us towards that centre. DM
