GOOD secretary-general Brett Herron on Friday called on the Government of National Unity (GNU) to place focus on the protection of whistleblowers in the fight against corruption and crime, as it designs its governing plan for the next five years.

Although the party said it was encouraged by the Hawks and National Prosecuting Authority’s arrest of 66 alleged July 2021 unrest perpetrators late last year, it expressed disappointment with government’s slow reaction in identifying and prosecuting real instigators of the unrest, in which the country’s economy was brought to its knees by widespread looting.

More than 300 people died across Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, with estimated economic damage of at least R50-million.

Herron revealed that in August 2021, he handed over evidence to the Hawks implicating 26 alleged instigators of the violence.

"Whistleblowers in the African National Congress provided me with evidence relating to three predominantly KwaZulu-Natal-focused WhatsApp groups named ‘Ethekwini Shutdown’, ‘Ink Shutdown 10/07/2021’, and ‘Free Zuma Information’. I subsequently received further information relating to a Gauteng WhatsApp group named ‘Joburg Activists Home’”, he explained.

Herron highlighted that it was apparent from the posts and comments in the WhatsApp groups that the riots were instigated in retaliation for the incarceration of former State President and now leader of the MK Party Jacob Zuma.

He described it as a well-orchestrated attack consisting of widespread arson, sabotage, looting and lawlessness.

Herron noted that the evidence he handed to the Hawks exposed carefully planned and funded activities with some evidence of “hidden hands” – players who were orchestrating the alleged terrorism but who were not themselves on the WhatsApp groups.

“Unfortunately, three years later it appears that the real instigators have not yet been identified or held accountable,” he said.

He explained that whistleblowers risked their jobs and safety by coming forward and the current laws did not protect them.

“Whistleblowers are key in the fight against corruption. However, our justice system places them at serious risk and continues to fail them when swift action is not taken,” he said.

Herron also called for the resourcing of the country’s criminal justice system to be prioritised so that justice could be seen to be done much more successfully and quickly.