Johannesburg- Government Communication and Information Systems (GCIS) Director General Phumla Williams and former South African Airways (SAA) Group Treasurer Cynthia Stimpel are expected to share their whistleblower experiences in a webinar on Sunday.
The webinar – titled The Lives and Trials of Whistelblowers in South Africa – is the second of a five part series led by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) which aims to highlight whistleblower and witness protection in the country.
Stimpel blew the whistle on corruption at SAA when she reported alleged potential contractual irregularities between the airline and private company BNP Capital. She was subsequently dismissed from her position. GCIS Director General Williams gave compelling evidence at the State Capture Commission in 2018 about the alleged capture of the department. The first webinar held in September, was addressed by SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi former Public Protector, Professor Thuli Madonsela, and former SIU head Willie Hofmeyr.
The SIU described the webinars as one of the manifestations of government’s National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) which is a blueprint to combatting corruption.
“The NACS has six pillars and one of those pillars emphasize the need to promote and encourage active citizenry, whistleblowing, integrity and transparency in all spheres of society. This approach requires all sectors of society (public, business, civil society, religious and traditional) to play an active role in improving anti-corruption and integrity regulations,” the crime fighting unit said. The SIU highlighted that whistleblowers and whistleblowing still largely remains one of the greatest weapons to fighting corruption. “The success of the fight against corruption is largely dependent on whistleblowers who continuously detect and report acts of malfeasance in all sectors of the society. However, the threats and perceived poor protection of whistleblowers remains a big challenge in the fight against corruption.”
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