Former SA Human Rights Commission chief Tseliso Thipanyane calls for more protection of whistleblowers. Picture: Werner Beukes/African News Agency (ANA)
Tselio Thipanyane, who is one of the candidates contesting for the position of public protector, has called for the protection of whistleblowers.
Thipanyane, who is the former CEO of the South African Human Rights Commission, said the levels of corruption in the country required that the law must be introduced to give more protection to those who fight against corruption.
Six men made a plea agreement with the State this week for the murder of former Gauteng senior official Babita Deokaran. The court sentenced the men to between six and 22 years in jail.
The Special Investigating Unit welcomed the sentence given by the court to the accused.
"The SIU will conduct further investigation into the alleged corruption, maladministration, fraud, and malpractices related to the supply chain management processes at the hospital. The SIU supports and hails the efforts by SAPS, in particular the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), and the NPA in the further investigation to trace the mastermind behind the murder of Babita Deokaran," said the SIU.
The law must be on the side of those who expose corruption in public institutions.
He said corruption was pervasive, and agencies that investigate it must do their work without fear or favour.
But the important aspect of this issue was the protection of whistleblowers.
Thipanyane, who is currently the head of legal in the office of the chief justice, said he has been working in the field of protection of whistleblowers for some time, and some work has been done on this.
"One of the challenges facing this country is the issue of corruption and poor service delivery, and this affects human rights. I have done a lot of work around the support of whistleblowers. I have actually drafted a bill, a new Act, we call it Whistleblower Protection and and Support Act, which will we give to government. I think it’s been used in some of the documents from the department of justice as to how we can amend this. Therefore, if I was to become the public protector one of the things I will do is to really ensure that there is better support and protection for whistleblowers so that we can do better in fighting corruption and maladministration in our country," said Thipanyane.
This issue cannot be ignored.
Political parties and civil society organisations have been calling for the protection of whistleblowers for some time.
They said they have been left exposed to the people who were involved in plundering and looting state resources.
Thipanyane said if this protection was provided for in the legislation, it would help many whistleblowers.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Politics