Johannesburg – Special Recognition Prizes have been awarded to four South African whistleblowers at the Blueprint for Free Speech 2022 Whistleblowing awards.

The South Africans awarded have been pivotal in drawing attention to wrongdoing in the police service, event organisers explained.

They include Cynthia Stimpel who blew the whistle on a corrupt deal at South African Airways (SAA) exposing her to surveillance and dismissal before she was vindicated by the Zondo Commission; Athol Williams who made disclosures about US-based consultancy Bain & Co which formed a central plank of the Zondo Commission’s investigations; Bianca Goodson, whose brave public disclosure exposed the corrupt activities of the Gupta family; and 15-year veteran of the police force Patricia Mashale who reported corruption where she worked in the police firearms department. Mashale is currently living in hiding, in fear for her life.

The Blueprint for Free Speech prizes and wider work have a huge impact. The 2020 winner, Bernard Collaery, who won the prize for his support and advocacy for the rights of the Timorese people and justice for their fair access to their own natural resources, had criminal charges against him dropped after winning the prize.

This is the first-ever majority female list, with the recipients living across South Africa, Australia and the UK. The recipients’ disclosures have had a global impact, revealing serious wrongdoing across the spectrum: from war crimes to financial...

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