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- Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who headed the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, has called on business to support whistleblowers.
- He urged business leaders to employ whistleblowers who have "lost a lot".
- He also wants a fund set up, without waiting for government.
- For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.
More than a year after handing over the final report with recommendations to President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who headed the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture that investigated allegations of abuse of power and corruption in the state, said he still hopes the government will implement the commission's recommendations to prevent a repeat of the crimes.
Zondo also called on the government and the private sector to establish a fund to assist anti-corruption whistleblowers who have fallen on hard times as a result of being persecuted.
"It is over a year since the State Capture Commission had handed its report to the president. A very important part of the mandate of the commission was to look at measures to prevent state capture from happening again," said Zondo on Tuesday evening. He was speaking at the launch of an anti-corruption guide jointly developed by Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) and the Gordon Institute of Business Sciences (GIBS) in Johannesburg.
"One of the recommendations that was made by the commission was for there to be an anti-corruption public procurement commission. The substance of the president’s response to that recommendation was positive. So we do hope that in due course, there will be moves to establish such a commission. We hope that the government will implement the recommendations so that South Africa is never subjected to state capture again," said Zondo.
Ask tough questions, protect whistleblowers
Zondo said the other major recommendation was for Parliament to properly carry out its function of executive oversight to prevent a repeat of state capture. "We recommended the establishment of a commission to oversee Parliament. A committee that would have the powers to call anyone, including members of Parliament, and ask the tough questions," said Zondo, who has since been appointed chief justice.
"Of course, as I understand it, that recommendation is still under consideration by the president to see if this can be done in order to continue the fight against corruption."
The chief justice also called for both the government and the private sector to prioritise the protection of whistleblowers. "For corruption to be reduced, there should be protection and incentives for whistleblowers. Whistleblowers should be protected and encouraged to blow the whistle," said Zondo.
Instead of being persecuted, those who have blown the whistle on corruption should be protected in order to encourage more whistleblowing.
Zondo said:
The fund would look after the livelihoods of those who have fallen on hard times as a result of telling on corruption and abuse of power. Zondo says a lot of such people are denied job opportunities while they get saddled with extensive legal costs on the cases they outed.
"There will be a lot of people who can contribute to that fund. I would certainly be among the first to contribute. We do need whistleblowers," said Zondo, adding that the people who are being neglected now, having blown the whistle, will serve as an example for others to not do it:
"I want to challenge the business sector today to employ those people who have been and are whistleblowers. You have nothing to fear in employing them as you have nothing to hide,” said Zondo.
"It is up to us South Africans to decide if the next 30, 50 years, will also be characterised by state capture. We then have to work hard now to realise that kind of South Africa for our children to inherit."
Zondo also paid tribute to and thanked the management of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) for compensating those of its former employees who were negatively impacted by state capture.
In November 2022, the tax agency publicly apologised and paid reparations to former employees who were unlawfully and unfairly fired for resisting the capture of the tax collector by rogue elements during the five-year period starting in 2014. SARS also apologised and paid some reparations to those affected employees who remained in its employ in the period.
Zondo singled out the leadership of EOH Holdings, a company listed on the JSE that had corrupted many state agencies, particularly the South African Police Service, for fully cooperating with the commission and for thoroughly investigating its own employees involved in the corruption. The firm is an example of what all businesses and government institutions should do to clean up their own ranks to prevent corruption, said Zondo.
The chief justice also had encouraging words for the cleanup work conducted leadership of the South African arm of KPMG, the auditing firm that had been at the centre of facilitating state capture for the benefit of the Gupta family. For this reform and clean-out, Zondo singled out Wiseman Nkuhlu, who was appointed chair to lead the clean-up in the wake of the corruption scandals that helped facilitate the capture of state institutions such as Eskom and Transnet.
