Johannesburg- If you happen to be walking down the street and encounter a group of armed men robbing and beating up an old lady, what would you do? Intervening could mean that you too get beaten up.
Most people would walk by and do nothing. While this sounds terrible, it is a reasonable thing to do because your life matters, and while it is unfortunate that the old lady gets mugged, you might take the view that it isn’t your doing.
I think this is what is happening in South Africa. Metaphorical old ladies are being mugged but we all act in our self-interest, so walk on by. The result is that our country falls victim to widescale crime. The thugs perpetrate their crimes because they know we ordinary citizens will look the other way.
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When I saw my employer, Bain & Co, had been involved in damaging the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and was intent on covering it up , I couldn’t look the other way. To me it was as if they had been party to a mugging of the people of South Africa on a mass scale and would get away with it if I remained quiet. So, I blew the whistle. And the result? I suffered severe injury.
Bain & Co worked with former president Jacob Zuma and Tom Moyane, long before the latter became commissioner of SARS in 2014, to plan the restructure of SARS that would leave it unable to enforce tax compliance, especially with large taxpayers dodging tax.
When the Nugent Commission investigated Bain’s role in damaging SARS, Bain went public saying they were cooperating with authorities and that they would be open and transparent, yet I came to see, as a senior insider, that they had no intention of making full disclosure of what they knew about their actions. I asked questions in meetings and on phone calls, and I sent emails urging my colleagues to act in the interest of South Africa but it was clear that justice would be sacrificed to protect Bain’s interests.
I could not stand for it, so resigned after just three months and approached the Zondo Commission with around 500 pages of evidence, containing emails and documents providing details of their collusion with Zuma, Moyane and many others. This evidence formed the basis of my 700-page affidavit to the Zondo Commission that implicated 39 parties and led to my two-day testimony in March 2021.
Bain was determined not to let me speak. It disabled my cellphone and laptop. It tried to seduce me with offers of money. It demanded that I delete all files and reminded me they could take legal action. It instructed staff not to speak to me and started to discredit me both behind my back and in the media.
As I was preparing to testify before the Zondo Commission it wrote to the commission declaring me a liar. Then it tried to have half of my affidavit redacted. In the meantime I lived in fear because it was clear that the company, and its many cronies, didn’t want me to disclose what they wanted hidden. My physical and mental health deteriorated.
I discovered that there was absolutely no support or protection for whistleblowers. Other whistleblowers bolstered security at their homes, some went into hiding, and I know of one who hired a personal bodyguard. On the warnings and advice of experts and allies, I decided that for my safety I should leave the country, which is what I did in November 2021.
For two-and-a-half years I have lived in fear and have faced ugly backlash from corporate South Africa because I had “broken the code” to speak up about corporate corruption. It is a great tragedy that our society condemns those who act for truth and justice.
It was with great satisfaction that I read the first part of the Zondo Commission’s report this week, which not only relied heavily on my evidence and testimony but also thanked me for my input. I felt vindicated.
At the closing of my testimony I characterised South Africa as experiencing the era of the bully, where citizens live in fear of those in power so allow them to propagate injustices. I urged that we enter the era of the brave, where we all speak up. This is what I tried to do.
It has been traumatic, only because our government offers no support and protection, something I hope will change. But despite the hellish ordeal, I would do it all again.
- Williams is a business adviser, ethics scholar and author of Deep Collusion: Bain and the capture of South Africa
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