This week, on the one-year anniversary of her homicide, the media has given appreciable consideration to whistleblower Babita Deokaran. There have been interviews along with her members of the family, memorials commemorating her sacrifice and braveness have been held, and far airtime and column house has been full of civil society advocates lamenting the dearth of accountability and motion from politicians.
And so it ought to be!
Babita Deokaran deserves that and extra. It would come as an amazing consolation to her household that she is recognised as a hero and acknowledged.
The outrage is vital and vital. That is why it’s completely important that the superb investigative work being executed by News24 to uncover why Babita Deokaran was killed continues. It helps to place the topic within the highlight and construct growing stress on politicians.
But all of that’s hollow with out actual tangible motion from the federal government and from the ANC. There have to be real, significant change.
I’ve within the submit motivated for brand new whistleblowing laws within the nation, lengthy overdue. Imagine a legislation that encourages whistleblowers to return ahead, protected them from retribution, rewarded them for talking up about corruption, and created a speak-up tradition in South African society.
Imagine a Babita Deokaran Act that will function a reminder of her braveness and dedication to good, clear governance in a lot the identical approach that the Magnitsky Act, a legislation offering for governmental sanctions in opposition to overseas people who’ve dedicated human rights abuses, does for Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky’s legacy.
We might introduce laws that mirrors the False Claims Act within the US, which gives vital safety for whistleblowers and entitles them to between ten and thirty p.c of the cash recovered from a profitable whistleblowing criticism.
Or we might do what the Netherlands does and introduce a ‘Whistleblowing House’ – in South Africa, this might current as a Chapter Nine establishment, impartial of presidency and it could present authorized, psychological, monetary, and safety help to whistleblowers.
There are choices. But within the face of all of the outrage, lawmakers are doing little to alter the framework.
I’m advised that throughout the Department of Justice, the legislative growth workforce is within the means of creating a chunk of legislation to place out for session. They are finding out different jurisdictions and reviewing suggestions made by the Zondo Commission.
In January this 12 months, the Zondo Commission launched its suggestions on whistleblower laws and coverage within the nation as a part of the primary chapter of its findings.
Zondo discovered that “recent events in South Africa which will be well known to every reader make it the highest priority that a bona fide whistleblower who reports wrongdoing should receive, as a matter of urgency, effective protection from retaliation.”
Zondo’s findings had been a step in the proper route however he solely made restricted suggestions to enhance the legislation. The Commission really useful the creation of a whistleblowing company for the dealing with of whistleblowing on issues concerning public procurements, establishing felony and civil immunity for whistleblowers, and implementing an awards system.
At the time, whistleblower organisation PPLAAF (Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa) mentioned that whereas South African authorities ought to undertake these recommendations, they won’t suffice to plainly shield and procure justice for whistleblowers.
The ANC at its Nasrec convention additionally known as for whistleblower laws to be reward based mostly. Its decision was that “The ANC must mobilise communities and society around issues of corruption and position itself in a leadership role concerning a culture of exposing corruption and rewarding whistleblowers within the organization”.
Despite saying all the proper issues, there may be nothing tangible to point out for it, and which means that another potential whistleblowers would have a look at Deokaran’s expertise and be deterred from pushing again in opposition to corruption.
There has additionally been nearly no motion in Deokaran’s particular case. It took a whole 12 months for the Gauteng authorities to announce an impartial forensic investigator had been appointed to look into the matter. An complete 12 months! And solely then did they accomplish that due to the stress mounting in response to the News24 investigation.
The Presidency criticised the sluggish motion of the provincial authorities. Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya mentioned it was “deeply regrettable that provincial authorities did not act expeditiously” when Deokaran first blew the whistle. He mentioned that speedy motion ought to have been taken, each by way of coping with the maladministration that she had flagged and offering her with “the necessary protection”.
While it’s spectacular that the President has successfully rebuked Gauteng Premier David Makhura’s authorities for not performing faster, there will likely be no consequence. If something, Makhura seems set to be appointed as a cupboard minister if studies are to be believed.
It’s fantastic that the Presidency is outspoken on the difficulty of whistleblowers, however such feedback stay hollow if no motion is taken that considerably modifications the expertise of those brave people who threat their lives and livelihoods within the pursuits of the nation.
It can also be outstanding that to this point, those that ordered Deokaran’s assassination haven’t been dropped at ebook. The precise gunmen have been arrested and are going through the legislation, however we aren’t fools. Politically highly effective people are being protected. If journalists had been in a position to examine and expose the gross mismanagement and blatant looting at Tembisa Hospital that Deokaran was making an attempt to cease, then why can’t legislation enforcement companies observe the cash and do the identical?
Thanks to strong, courageous investigative reporting, we now know that the hospital was spending tons of of hundreds of rand ostensibly on skinny ladies’ denims and wingback chairs, cash that ought to have gone to offering much-needed medical care to the individuals of Tembisa.
Babita Deokaran’s homicide deserves our outrage. She deserves our respect. But she additionally deserves a lot, way more.
Her brother Rakesh advised me on The Midday Report this week that a lot way more must occur. “A proper honest investigation needs to be carried out and all involved need to answer and be punished for their role in her death,” he mentioned. “At the end of the day [whistleblowers] need to trust the system, they need to believe in the system. If the system is going to fail them, there are not many people who will come forward. As a country, we cannot fail them at all.”
It is all hollow except there may be actual tangible change to the nation’s laws, and real accountability for many who looted the state, in addition to for many who ordered her to be killed for making an attempt to cease them from doing so.
Mandy Wiener is a journalist, writer, and presenter of The Midday Report on 702 and CapeTalk.