South Africa is facing a crisis in the rule of law.
Whistleblowers who speak out against corruption are targeted
Leading anti-corruption groups to demand better protection. According to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, many of the 1,971 assassination cases that have occurred in South Africa between 2000 and 2021 have targeted whistleblowers.
The murders of an accountant working on a high-profile corruption case and a government employee who warned of illegal dealings worth nearly $50 million have drawn attention to the dangers faced by those who speak out. Cloete Murray, the accountant, was working on the financial accounts of a company implicated in bribing government ministers to win state contracts. He was shot in the head while driving with his son in Johannesburg in March.
Meanwhile, Babita Deokaran was shot multiple times while sitting in her car in August. She had spoken up about potentially corrupt payments to more than 200 companies by the health department and was a key witness in a probe by the country’s anti-corruption Special Investigating Unit into contracts worth more than $45 million.
Six men have been charged with her murder
The deaths of the whistleblowers have led to calls for better protection for those who come forward. Corruption Watch executive director Karam Singh said the murders send “a chilling and intimidating message to anyone seeking to end impunity for corruption and crime,” adding that the country is facing “a crisis in terms of the rule of law”.
The country’s Department of Justice did not respond to messages seeking comment on whistleblower protection. President Cyril Ramaphosa has acknowledged shortcomings in the protection of whistleblowers and called for the strengthening of the witness protection unit. The former head of the state-owned electricity utility, Andre de Ruyter, has also spoken out about corruption linked to the government and others at the utility and has claimed he survived an attempt on his life when his coffee was laced with cyanide.