South Africa’s newly appointed National Director of Public Prosecutions, Andy Mothibi, has emphasised the need to strengthen the Protected Disclosures Act to ensure better protection for whistleblowers.
His remarks follow the recent killings of witnesses and whistleblowers linked to matters before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry sitting in Pretoria.
Mothibi says the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is working on legislative amendments to broaden the scope of the Act and extend protection beyond the traditional employer-employee relationship.
Mothibi says, “As it provides at the moment, its coverage is not wide enough to cover other whistleblowers who are outside of the employer-employee environment. The Protected Disclosures Act currently limits protection to those who disclose wrongdoing within the employer-employee relationship.
The intention is to widen it. If I recall well, the Ministry of Justice might have already taken some of the proposals out for comment. If they haven’t done so yet, they will be doing that soon for public comment.”
–SABC/ChannelAfrica–
