Madonsela: Whistleblowers often walk a ‘lonely journey’

Former public protector Thuli Madonsela has called for more protection for whistleblowers who expose state capture and corruption, saying for those who speak out against wrongdoing, it is a “lonely journey”.

“There are gaps in the whistleblower protection laws. For true protection of whistleblowers, we have to empower people to know what needs to be done. What I would like to see more is ordinary people writing to parliament and the president in terms of the access to Information Act,” she said.

Madonsela was speaking during a panel discussion at the Democracy Defenders Dialogue at Wits Business School on Monday night along with former finance minister Pravin Gordhan, where the pair decried state capture and corruption, HuffPost SA reported.

During her tenure as public protector, Madonsela said the Chapter 9 institution constitutionally mandated to protect the country’s democracy survived because of the public support and protection behind its work.

“As public protector, we survived because civil society protected us. There is no way we would have survived if it wasn’t for the support from the public,” Madonsela said.

“At the moment, some of the defenders of democracy, those that have put themselves out there, have tried to decapture the state. Let them not walk a lonely journey. Let us make sure we walk the journey with them,” she added.

Gordhan said there was space for all South Africans to become active citizens, saying “when change really happens”, it is when citizens themselves take on issues such as the “repurposing” of state institutions and creeping authoritarianism.

“There is a new campaign going on to undermine the South African Reserve Bank. Even if we disagree with monetary policy, don’t undermine the institution. These times are very challenging times, what we must be are not conveyors of doom, but conveyors of hope,” he said.

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