The Public Service Commission (PSC) said on Wednesday that it had observed a gradual climb in reported cases of alleged corruption for the third quarter of the 2021-22 financial year as whistleblowers felt more confident coming forward.
Between October and December 2021, 347 cases were reported.
Anele Gxoyiya, PSC commissioner, ascribed the upwards trend to an “increased awareness of legislation relating to the protection of whistleblowers”. This afforded whistleblowers confidence “in the process and outcomes of blowing the whistle”, he said.
“This may also be due to the fact that whistleblowing is no longer viewed as a negative act, as it was under the previous dispensation, [thereby] removing some of the stigma that is often associated with whistleblowing,” Gxoyiya said at a press briefing for the release of the organisation’s quarterly Pulse Bulletin.
When accepting part one of the Zondo commission final report into state capture in January, President Cyril Ramahosa thanked various whistleblowers who had testified “sometimes at great risk and cost to themselves”.
During his testimony at the commission in April 2021, Ramaphosa thanked the numerous whistleblowers who had testified, saying they had been subjected to “enormous pressure”, because they had chosen to speak out about corruption. “I regret that in some instances, they have not been treated well,” he said.
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