Actions on recommendations

The Department of Justice has commenced a review of the Protected Disclosures Act and Witness Protection Act to, among other things, give effect to the following recommendations: ensure whistle-blowers receive the protections afforded by section 32(2) of the UN Convention Against Corruption.

Progress as at November 2023

The Discussion Document on Proposed Reforms for The Whistleblower Protection Regime in South Africa was published for public comment in June 2023. The document made significant recommendations for legislative reforms in line with Article 32 of the UN Convention against Corruption. These include improved measures to keep a protected disclosure confidential where information might identify the discloser; the creation of a reverse onus where any conduct or threat against a whistleblower is presumed to have occurred as a result of a possible or actual disclosure that a person makes; unless the person who engaged in the conduct or made the threat can show satisfactory evidence in support of another reason for engaging in the conduct or making the threat; the creation of an offence where a person uses force; coercion, threats, intimidation, or any other coercive means against another person with intent to prevent that person from, or influence that person to refrain from making a disclosure; protection by the state to whistleblowers and their immediate family members in instances where their lives or property is endangered; and inclusion of whistleblower in the definition of witness in terms of the Witness Protection Act.

Actions on recommendations

The Department of Justice has commenced a review of the Protected Disclosures Act and Witness Protection Act to, among other things, give effect to the following recommendations: the possible award of a proportion of funds recovered to the whistle-blower provided that the information disclosed has been material in recovering funds.

Progress as at November 2023

The Discussion Document on Proposed Reforms for The Whistleblower Protection Regime in South Africa was published for public comment in June 2023. The document examines the evidence for and against the provision of financial incentives for whistleblowers using international experience. This matter remains an issue for discussion as the legislative proposals are developed from this discussion document process.

Actions on recommendations

The Department of Justice has commenced a review of the Protected Disclosures Act and Witness Protection Act to, among other things, give effect to the following recommendations: whistle-blowers to be afforded immunity from criminal or civil action arising from honest disclosures.

Progress as at November 2023

The Discussion Document on Proposed Reforms for The Whistleblower Protection Regime in South Africa was published for public comment in June 2023. The document recommends several legislative measures to support whistleblowing such as criminalising threats against whistleblowers and shifting the onus of proof to those seeking to deny whistleblower claims. The document notes that the amended Protected Disclosure Act (5/2017) does now offer immunity from criminal or civil suits provided that the disclosure is made in good faith and the reporter is not complicit in the misconduct reported.