ActionSA’s Anti-Corruption Reform Package

Anti-Corruption Reform Package

ActionSA’s has declared Corruption Public Enemy Number One. In order to break the back of corruption ActionSA is introducing an Anti-Corruption Reform Package. This is about making corruption dangerous again. These reforms are designed to end impunity, protect those who expose wrongdoing, and ensure that corruption is met with real and unavoidable consequences.

At the heart of this package is a simple principle: honest public servants and citizens must be protected and empowered, while corrupt networks and their enablers must be decisively dismantled.

A Four-Part Reform Agenda

ActionSA’s Anti-Corruption Reform Package consists of four Bills:
1. The Fallen Whistleblowers Bill
  This first Bill honours the brave South Africans who paid the ultimate price for telling the truth. It is named in memory of whistleblowers such as Babita Deokaran and others who were murdered for exposing corruption, while the state failed to protect them and Parliament failed to act.
2. The Zero Tolerance Anti-Corruption Bill
  To be introduced in the coming months, this Bill will end the culture of consequence-free looting by imposing firm and unavoidable penalties for corruption.
3. Strengthened Blacklisting Measures
  This Bill will prevent corrupt individuals and companies from recycling themselves through the state by streamlining and tightening blacklisting rules and enforcement.
4. Reform of the National Prosecuting Authority
  This Bill will fundamentally reform the NPA to eliminate political interference and ensure swift, independent prosecutions without fear or favour.

The Fallen Whistleblowers Bill

ActionSA’s Fallen Whistleblowers Bill is introduced through amendments to the Public Procurement Act, 2024, and focuses on the sector most vulnerable to corruption: public procurement, which accounts for over R800 billion in annual expenditure across all spheres of government.

What the Bill Does

First, it strikes corruption where it hurts most, public procurement, by creating a secure and anonymous disclosure mechanism.
Second, it strengthens protection by doubling penalties for intimidation and interference with whistleblowers to 20 years in prison.
Third, it introduces rewards for whistleblowers whose disclosures lead to the recovery of stolen public funds.

And fourth, where the NPA fails to act, it opens the door to private prosecutions, ensuring corruption does not go unpunished.

Why This Bill Is Necessary

South Africa’s experience of State Capture, and the findings of the Zondo Commission, made it clear that whistleblowers were indispensable in exposing corruption. Yet critical recommendations to incentivise and protect them remain unimplemented.

Existing reward mechanisms in environmental and resource legislation are narrow, fragmented, and ineffective. Meanwhile, the NPA has repeatedly failed to secure prosecutions and recover stolen public funds.

International experience proves that whistleblower incentives work. In the United States, the False Claims Act enabled the recovery of $2.9 billion (R52.2 billion) in 2024 alone. Similar models operate successfully in the UK and Europe. South Africa is lagging behind legislatively in this regard.

Protecting Those Who Tell the Truth

In South Africa, whistleblowers routinely face threats to their safety, livelihoods, and dignity. In tragic cases, including the assassinations of Babita Deokaran and Marius van der Merwe, the cost of exposing corruption has been fatal. Courage should not be a death sentence.

It is unjust and unsustainable to expect whistleblowers to carry this burden alone. The Fallen Whistleblowers Bill ensures that those who risk everything to protect the public interest are recognised, supported, and empowered.

Email your support of the bill by 15 February 2025 to speaker@parliament.gov.za and copied to parliament@actionsa.org.za.