Few corruption-related issues generate as much public support as the imperative to protect whistleblowers. Yet discrimination against whistleblowers by large employers — and by more sinister, violent elements — remains commonplace.
A particularly offensive recent example was the treatment of paediatrician Tim de Maayer for daring to expose the appalling neglect at Johannesburg’s Rahima Moosa Hospital. For his pains De Maayer was immediately suspended by the hospital’s CEO, Nozuko Mkabayi.
Leave aside that her action was taken against a highly skilled professional and that it was illegal. Surely one would have hoped that her personal ethical code alone, in a working environment where ethical considerations are so important, would have sufficed to restrain her punishing hand. One can only imagine how she deals with her powerless patients’ grievances if this is the way she treats a highly specialised physician.
Because De Maayer prudently made his concerns public, public outrage ensued. He was unreservedly supported by his colleagues and professional bodies. The Human Rights Commission investigated, describing its meeting with the “dismissive” hospital CEO as “painful”.
Public attention to whistleblowing is important. First, it recognises its role in combatting corruption and the sort of gross negligence De Maayer exposed. There is no fighting this sort of conduct without whistleblowing. For its...
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