THREE years after the assassination of Babita Deokaran, there is still no sign that the government is committed to the protection of whistle-blowers, says Tebogo Khaas, the chairperson of Public Interest South Africa.
On Friday, friends and family commemorated the death of Deokaran, who was murdered for exposing corruption in the Gauteng Department of Health.
Khaas said that although whistle-blowers had gained prominence of late, there were not any material changes in the way that the government supported them. Many of them still lost their jobs and didn’t receive government assistance.
“Last year there was an introduction of a discussion document on reforming the whistle-blower legislation. We’re still waiting for a bill to be introduced to put into effect such rights.
“If anything, one can draw inference from such conduct that despite references from some officials that they are taking whistle-blowers seriously, clearly their actions do not seem to match such utterances,” said Khaas.
He said even after Deokaran’s death officials still questioned whether or not she was a whistle-blower, claiming that she hadn’t follow protocol.
“So, such attitudes are not very helpful in encouraging whistle-blowing or whistle-blowers because when government acts or government officials behave in such a manner, it really doesn’t engender confidence for whistle-blowers to come out and report what they’re doing,” said Khaas.
Public Interest South Africa organised an awards ceremony for whistle-blowers, and Khaas said the number of nominations they received exceeded that of last year.
“Hopefully the message does resonate with the public and more and more people come out to actually acknowledge whistle-blowing and whistle-blowers, then we will do our best to try and make sure that we also help encourage and recognise their bravery and selflessness.”
Nominations close on September 1 and the awards ceremony will take place in Pretoria in October, he said.
Nominations can be made at https://publicinterest.org.za