Whistle-blowers – the brave watchdogs of corruption

Until South Africa learns to appreciate and applaud its whistle-blowers – those who take their courage into their hands and expose dubious deeds – the fight against corruption will not gain full momentum. Whistle-blowers provide an invaluable service to their communities and compatriots, by helping to uncover widespread or large-scale wrongdoing that affects other people. Read more >

CW annual report: average 11 whistle-blower reports a day in 2020

The Corruption Watch (CW) 2020 annual report, titled From Crisis to Action, reflects the extent to which all organisations and individuals in South Africa witnessed and experienced the massive impact of the global coronavirus pandemic.  During this period the public was increasingly outraged by the rampant corruption that emerged in relation to procurement and distribution Read more >

Thinking of blowing the whistle? Read this first

By Kwazi Dlamini British philosopher John Stuart Mill once said, “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” In South Africa in the recent past, corruption and dishonest individuals have thrived under the unobservant eye of their peers, while those who are watchful of Read more >

How the Fishrot scandal robbed Namibia of millions

Image: WikiLeaks In part one of our Fishrot Files mini-series we read about the experiences of whistle-blower Jóhannes Stefánsson, the former MD of the Namibian branch of Icelandic fishing company Samherji. After Stefánsson’s 2016 departure from the company, he handed over a cache of 30 000 revealing documents to Al Jazeera and WikiLeaks. The latter Read more >

Fishrot whistle-blower did it despite the risks

In 2014 the stench of corruption began to rise from the operations of Icelandic fishing company Samherji in Namibia, and its former MD Jóhannes Stefánsson noticed. Two years later, he left his job to expose an extensive cash-for-quota scandal through a trove of 30 000 documents and e-mail correspondence handed over to WikiLeaks, who made Read more >

CW report shows whistle-blower increase during Covid-19

The 2020 edition of Corruption Watch’s Analysis of Corruption Trends (ACT) report, released today, demonstrates growing concerns about corruption levels in South Africa. The report also illustrates that the will of the public to expose the corrupt and seek consequences remains strong even during the pandemic. Almost 2 000 people took the step of blowing Read more >