Government’s silence on whistleblowers protection is suspicious

In describing the ANC government under the stewardship of Jacob Zuma, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu saw it as being “worse than apartheid”.

Under apartheid, Tutu expected the likes of BJ Vorster and PW Botha to resist any change from autocracy to democracy. He did not expect a similar posture from a government led by the once mighty liberation movement of Chief Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela.

Years down the line, when a new sheriff, President Cyril Ramaphosa emerged, the masses expected nothing less than real change. The new broom had to sweep clean, shaking the country off the remnants of the Zuma-era ills.
As a country priding itself on a progressive constitution, did it have to take Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo to recommend to Ramaphosa that those speaking out against corruption, should be protected by the state?

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Zondo recommended that government introduce legislation or amend existing legislation “to ensure that any person revealing corruption, fraud or undue influence in public procurement activity, must be protected”.

Still recovering from the impact of last year’s execution style murder of whistleblower and senior Gauteng health department official Babita Deokaran, we realised this week how those who have put their lives on the line before Zondo, have become vulnerable to the forces of darkness.

Given the huge gulf between those dedicated to their work and those committed to further the aims of their political masters within the intelligence community, are we a secured people and a country?

Further compounding the security challenge is that we have a leaderless SA Police Service, whose embattled national commissioner Khehla Sitole, is more concerned about his future than anything else.

This week’s two burglary incidents at the homes of former SA Revenue Service executive Johann van Loggerenberg and former Government Communication and Information System boss Themba Maseko, raised many questions about the safety of whistleblowers.

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Both Van Loggerenberg and Maseko risked their lives by testifying at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture about levels of corruption and state capture under the Zuma administration. Like Deokaran and many others, they could have been wiped out because their conscience forced them to testify.

The first thing Ramaphosa should have done would have been to enquire from Saps and the head of intelligence on whether there were enough safety measures put in place around Van Loggerenberg and Maseko.

Silence from government can only lead to a speculation that there is a collusion to isolate those brave enough to speak truth to power. With the ANC national elective conference months away, you are unlikely to hear the government and Luthuli House pronouncing on the safety of whistleblowers.

Jostling for power in the governing party that is gradually losing its grip on key issues affecting society, is all that you are likely to witness. The more things change, the more they stay the same.