The Whistleblower House (TWBH) welcomes the long awaited publication of the Protected Disclosures Bill, 2026 for public comment. The Bill represents a meaningful shift in how South Africa approaches whistleblowing and moves closer to recognising the realities faced by those who speak up.

As South Africans have been encouraged to comment on proposed legislation around the protection of whistleblowers, some civil society groups and unions have welcomed the draft bill.

Is the Protected Disclosures Bill a step in the right direction? Executive Director at The Whistleblower House Ben Theron as well as Academic and whistleblower, Dr Athol Williams, discuss the matter on a SABC News broadcast.

South Africa’s whistleblowers are dying. The system, not just its enforcement, must change. Careers are destroyed, livelihoods disappear, families are pulled into hardship, and in the most tragic cases, lives are taken. We all know the name Babita Deokaran. She stood for accountability and she was killed for it. Her death shook the nation. It led to promises. It led to commitments but it did not lead to a system that actually protects those who come forward.

Police say Matipandile Sotheni, once a member of the Special Task Force, Maripandile Sotheni, 41, pulled the trigger in the December drive-by shooting that killed whistleblower Marius van der Merwe.

School learners in Ekurhuleni did not hold back during a stakeholder engagement unpacking South Africa’s National Drug Master Plan (NDMP), confronting officials with blunt questions about drugs in schools, whistleblower protection and whether the government is truly ready to respond.

In many communities, crime is not always committed by strangers. Sometimes the person responsible is someone people know personally, a friend, neighbour, or even a family member. This raises a difficult and often emotional question: what should someone do if they know a loved one has committed a crime?

Financial support for those who speak out is coming, and lifestyle audits for prosecutors. Whistleblowers have often paid a heavy price for exposing corruption. Many have faced threats, job losses, violence and even death, with little in the way of state protection. Now, a long-awaited bill to protect them will be tabled.

Mtubatuba, KwaZulu-Natal – A breakthrough in a nearly four-year-old murder case has brought some relief to the family of slain Gauteng businessman and whistleblower Marumo Eric Phenya, as police arrested the alleged hitman in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Minenhle Mthembu, 30, is accused of gunning down Phenya in a hail of bullets in Roodepoort on 17 October 2022, shortly after the victim exposed corruption in a multimillion-rand tender at the Department of Home Affairs.

A statement by Norman Kgosiyagofa Montjane, Attorney for the Phenya Family says Johannah Phenya, widow of the assassinated whistleblower, Marumo Eric Phenya, has confirmed that the Gauteng Provincial Office of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) has advised her of the arrest of one of the alleged hitmen linked to her husband’s murder.