Corporate misconduct is difficult to detect and prove. This is because it is often hidden by a complicated web of transactions, misleading corporate records and convoluted company group structures. This is why corporate whistleblowers whose positions give them an inside track on misconduct are so important in exposing corporate crime and corruption.
But whistleblowers risk personal and financial risk by coming out. Whistleblower protection in South Africa lags behind international standards and inadequately protects whistleblowers in some respects.
Given South Africa’s high levels of corporate corruption, whistleblowers deserve high levels of protection. Despite some protections given to whistleblowers, the reporting rates of wrongdoing are low. The main reasons for this are a fear of being victimised and a fear of losing one’s job. The low levels of reports of wrongdoing and the widespread victimisation of whistleblowers are proof of the weak protection South Africa offers corporate whistleblowers.
I have conducted research on the protection of corporate whistleblowers in South Africa compared to international jurisdictions, such as Australia. In my research I found that section 159 of the Companies Act does not go far enough in protecting corporate whistleblowers. It is defective and must be urgently reformed.
Whistleblowing in private and public sector companies, including state-owned entities, is regulated by Section 159 of...
The Southeast National Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Barr. Ray Nnaji said that widespread claims of a leadership crisis in the party stem from misinterpreting recent court r...