Effective Whistleblower Protection – A Fundamental Step In Effective Corruption Combatting

Whistleblowers play a critical role in strengthening accountability. As former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo observed, they are “the final defence against corruption and state capture.”

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, a global professional organisation of fraud examiners, in a study considered cases of fraud in 133 countries and found that 42% of fraudulent activities were detected by tips / whistleblowing reports. This is nearly three times as many as the next most common fraud detection method, internal audits.

The assassinations of whistle-blowers like Babita Deokaran, Mpho Mafole and Pamela Mabini underscore the urgent need for enhanced whistleblower protections in South Africa. At the time of our last article, almost twelve months ago, the primary legal protection for whistleblowers in South Africa is the Protected Disclosures Act No. 26 of 2000 (“PDA”). However, there is broad consensus that the current legislation fails to adequately destigmatise whistleblowing or protect whistleblowers, discouraging individuals from coming forward. Beyond threats to life, whistleblowers face loss of employment, disciplinary action, financial difficulties, and psychosocial struggles.

Current PDA protections

The current PDA protects employees from occupational detriment—including disciplinary action, dismissal, transfer, denial of promotion, or other adverse employment effects—resulting from making a protected disclosure.

Key proposed amendments to the PDA

Key proposed amendments to the PDA include:

1. expanding protections to contractors and volunteers beyond traditional employment relationships;
2. implementing measures to safeguard confidentiality and allow anonymous reporting where appropriate;
3. establishing a support fund and legal immunity framework for good-faith whistleblowers; and
4. appointing a retired judge as “whistleblower protector” to lead an institution responsible for certifying whistleblower status, conducting risk assessments, assisting with interdicts against retaliation, instructing protective actions, providing financial assistance, and making policy recommendations. This final recommendation stems from the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council (“NACAC”) in their August 2025 report.

Recent developments

Progress has been made in revamping our whistleblower legislation through the proposed Protected Disclosures Bill, 2026 (“Bill”) which aims to provide tougher legal, security and financial safeguards for whistleblowers.The new Bill addresses major gaps in the current legislation incorporating recommendations from the Zondo Commission. The Bill closed for public comment on 14 May 2026.

Some of the key changes proposed in the Bill are:

1. Broadened Scope of Protection: The Bill replaces the term "employee" with the broader concept of "discloser," which now covers any person in the public or private sector including employees, investigators, volunteers, and trainees who makes a disclosure. 
2. Expanded Definition of Occupational Detriment: Disclosers are protected against occupational detriment, which now expressly includes emotional and psychological trauma, in addition to dismissal, suspension, harassment, and intimidation. 
3. Removal of the Good Faith Requirement: The Bill removes the open-ended "good faith" requirement and instead sets out specific statutory exclusions—such as knowingly false disclosures, disclosures made to cause harm, or disclosures made for pecuniary gain.
4. Detailed Internal Procedure Requirements: Employers must establish internal whistleblowing procedures addressing designated officers, timeframes, anonymous reporting, confidentiality, referral processes, and mechanisms for informing disclosers of investigation outcomes. 
5. New Complaints Mechanism: A retired judge designated by the President will oversee complaints from disclosers or related persons who believe they have suffered, or are likely to suffer, detrimental action or whose identity is about to be unlawfully disclosed. 
6. Criminal Sanctions: Subjecting a discloser or related person to occupational detriment or detrimental action is now a criminal offence, punishable by up to 15 years' imprisonment; unlawfully disclosing a discloser's identity carries up to 10 years' imprisonment. 
7. Financial Awards for Whistleblowers: Where a court convicts an employer of improper conduct and imposes a monetary sanction, up to one-quarter of that sanction may be awarded to the discloser(s) whose evidence led to the conviction. 

While the Bill does address some key gaps in the current legislative framework, the public consultation process will be critical in determining the shape and scope of the protections that ultimately emerge.

*This conversation continues at the UJ Combating Corruption Summit 2026, where our experts will join other stakeholders to explore the challenges surrounding corruption, accountability and whistleblower protection in South Africa.