More than 100 participants recently attended the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Business School Think Tank webinar, “Save the rhino, and the whistle blower”.

The diverse panel included Pieter-Louis Myburgh, an investigative journalist, Adv JJ du Toit, retired deputy director of the National Prosecuting Authority, Wayne Malgas, a partner at Control Risks, Devoshum Moodley, whistle blower and integrity activist, and Prof Monray Botha from the University of Pretoria. Prof Herman de Beer, a forensic practitioner, guided the conversation.

The webinar aimed to give practical insight and guidance on how forensic practitioners can assist in enhancing the protection of whistle blowers. The five themes discussed during the webinar were an in-depth explanation of what a whistle blower is, the current legislative framework in South Africa, how practical whistle blowing works in the country, the competing loyalties, and practical aspects for the forensic practitioner.

Even though South Africa has an excellent Protective Disclosure Act which was amended in 2017, it was pointed out that it still has a number of shortfalls that need to be addressed.

Panel members agreed that corruption and fraud are rife in South Africa, and that legislation needs to be tailor-made to fit the local context.

It was mentioned that most whistle blowers do not go to law enforcement agencies when they want to blow the whistle on corruption and fraud. Instead, they usually approach civil society and journalists for assistance.

All panellists agreed that whistle blowers help to address crime, corruption and fraud, and that more needs to be done to protect them, especially since most of them feel unsafe after divulging certain information. They recommended the establishment of an independent body, managed by civil society, to protect whistle blowers.

The webinar concluded with the panel discussing which steps forensic practitioners could take to gain the trust of whistle blowers, with witness protection among the recommendations made.