Whistleblowers are like you and me, and want the same things as you and me: a country that stands and thrives on the values of its people and cherishes the calling of public service, writes Moepeng Talane.
"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything" – a quote attributable to the late Albert Einstein, renowned all over the world for his wisdom and fortitude.
It also speaks to a principle that many in our society subscribe to, that in order for broken systems and malfunctioning governments to be fixed, it is up to the citizenry to take up that task, every day.
If we all choose to do nothing and accept that South Africa's corruption problem is someone else's to fix, we lose the opportunity afforded us by that most symbolic act of a democratic structure – our vote – to force change for the better.
Our collective responsibility does not end at putting an "X" next to our favoured political party or representative, but we are also encouraged, even mandated by our laws, to hold recipients of our votes accountable.
Whistleblowers are our currency
For those who go further than most to expose the wrongs in our governing systems, there are very few rewards. But Corruption Watch (CW) has valued them since its doors first opened in 2012, because without their brave act of reporting corruption, the organisation would not be in the positon that it is in today. We are 10 years strong this year because of more than 36 200 brave...
Indian-origin urologist Jitesh Patel will have to pay $14 million to settle allegations against him that he defrauded healthcare programs by performing unnecessary procedures on his patients. An e...