Pay whistle-blowers, Zondo urges government

Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has urged the government to pay whistle-blowers who provide information that exposes corruption and graft.

His stance comes after the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) Investigating Directorate (ID) recovered R2.5bn in the course of probes into state capture.

Speaking at a National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council dialogue on Wednesday, Zondo said the depth of corruption in SA necessitated paying whistle-blowers. 

“Whistle-blowers helped to stop state capture. Everybody talks about the protection of whistle-blowers, but all of you would be aware the commission went beyond that, recommending we incentivise them to blow the whistle,” he said. 

In August, justice minister Ronald Lamola told parliament’s portfolio committee on justice and correctional services that the ID recovered R2.5bn in state capture cases alone.

Zondo said whistle-blowers should receive a percentage of the money recovered when information they provided enabled investigators to crack cases.

“I wish that everybody could make such disclosures because it is the right thing, but our levels of corruption are such that I do not think we in SA can afford the luxury of saying we do not want information that is disclosed by whistle-blowers who want money.” 

Zondo raised concerns about the lack of implementation of some of the recommendations contained in his report state capture.

“Most of the corruption we get in SA is in the area of public procurement. If we can close the taps in public procurement, we will make a big difference in our fight against corruption. We recommended the establishment of a public anti-corruption agency. We see that the public procurement bill of 2023 doesn’t have an institution like that.” 

President Cyril Ramaphosa told the council the government was making headway in implementing the Zondo commission’s recommendations.

“The SA Revenue Service has collected R4.9bn in unpaid taxes as a result of evidence brought before the commission. While there is a long road ahead, the fight against corruption is gaining momentum,” he said.

“Corruption has wounded our democracy and shaken people’s faith in our institutions. If corruption is not arrested, the greatest damage will not be in the funds stolen, the jobs lost or the services not delivered. The greatest damage will be to the belief in democracy itself.

“It is our shared responsibility, as we celebrate 30 years of democracy, to build a society in which corruption has no place.”

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