00:00Martha Ngoi was the legal executive at the state-owned passenger rail agency of South Africa
00:07when she came forward with proof of unlawful government contracts worth millions.
00:13In response, she says, she was fired by her employer in 2021
00:18and has been involved in a lengthy and costly legal battle to get her job back.
00:23You know, psychologically as well, it's taken a huge toll, psychologically.
00:29Not only on me, on my daughter as well, and the family as well.
00:34But I've been fortunate because I've had a support structure.
00:38As Ngoi continues her legal fight, she participates in the Whistleblower House,
00:43a civil society organization that supports and advises people who reveal corruption in South Africa.
00:51For others in South Africa, the whistleblowing led to tragedy.
00:55Government employee Babita Diokaran was a witness in a fraud investigation into improper COVID-error medical supply contracts.
01:05She was shot to death in 2021 after her role in the inquiry became known.
01:11Investigative journalist Jeff Wicks spent months investigating the circumstances that led to her killing.
01:18In the weeks before she was killed, she had stumbled across anomalous payment patterns and had reported them to her
01:24superiors.
01:25She'd wanted an urgent investigation and a stop to the payments.
01:28And even just days before she was killed, she sent a message to her boss saying,
01:32these guys might be on to us if we stop their money and our lives might be in danger.
01:37And that message turned out to be fairly prescient because she was killed within less than a week.
01:43Cynthia Stumple exposed corruption in South Africa's state-owned airlines.
01:48She now works at Whistleblower House.
01:51My own view is that whistleblowers are truly important in fighting corruption
01:57because they are the ones who highlight and expose and speak out about either fraud happening in their workplace,
02:06corruption, and so they are that first point of call.
02:10The South African government is reviewing its current whistleblower laws
02:15as part of a national anti-corruption strategy.
02:19Uglesha Radulovic from the University of Johannesburg
02:22researches the plight of whistleblowers.
02:25He says that the legislation protecting whistleblowers needs to be broadened and strengthened.
02:32Penalise those that are retaliating against whistleblowers.
02:35And the second thing that would be crucial would be to
02:40create a stronger relationship between the state and civil society
02:45and an independent state institution could provide the resolution there.
02:50Ngoi is all for whistleblower law reform.
02:53She says right now they are not getting the support and protection they desperately need.
02:58At the end of the day, it is important for whistleblowers to speak truth to power.
03:05If we really do want change in this country and we want to leave some kind of a legacy and
03:12future for our kids,
03:13people have got to speak out.
03:16The government proposals include granting whistleblowers government protection
03:21and imposing criminal charges on organizations that ignore whistleblowers' information.
03:27IHSAN HEFIGI VOA NEWS, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
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