Ahead of the looming May 14 deadline for public submissions on the newly released Protected Disclosures Bill, a coalition of civil society organisations, led by Corruption Watch (CW), has called on the Department of Justice (DoJ) to extend the comment period for the Bill, citing "serious gaps" in the draft legislation.
Released last month by Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, the Bill aims to strengthen South Africa’s whistleblower framework.
However, CW and its partners argue that the public has not been given enough time or information to provide meaningful input.
"We are of the view that there have not been sufficient public-facing endeavours by the DoJ to help make the process of submissions richer and more meaningful," the group stated.
While welcoming the efforts to protect those who report corruption, the civil society collective has identified several concerning areas in the current version of the Bill.
The main concern is the proposal to have a single retired judge, appointed by the President and overseen by the Ministry of Justice, handle whistleblower protection.
The organisations argue that this structure fails to provide the necessary independence, as the authority would still be under the influence of the Executive rather than reporting directly to Parliament.
Furthermore, the group argued that relying on one individual is “practically inadequate”, noting that the Zondo Commission required years of work by multiple...
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