To see improvements in whistleblowing, global law firm Eversheds Sutherland SA partner Kyle Lamb highlighted that structures and support systems must be implemented to assist whistleblowers.

Lamb was speaking during the University of Johannesburg's Anti-Corruption Summit, where he described the challenges whistleblowers faced.

The backdrop was former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s State Capture reports which implicated about 1 500 people in rampant looting and capture of South Africa’s State-owned enterprises.

Coca-Cola Africa general counsel Mpumi Mazibuko pointed out that a healthy whistleblowing culture was one of good governance that ensured leadership appreciated and understood ethics and compliances.

He said that for most people this sounded like “a bit of a drag”, because it took one’s eye off the bottom line and from driving sales.

“What is the cost here that is involved if you are seen acting unethically and the damage it can do on your brand,” he countered.

Leadership needed to realise that they needed to invest in systems and in people to drive the agenda.

He added that there were tools and platforms that could be harnessed to help drive compliance programmes.

“Yes, it can take your eye from what the core business is, but not paying attention to ethics and compliance issues can really be detrimental to your brand if you get caught up in the storm,” he warned.

The Ethics Institute specialist for ethics and anti-corruption Lulama Qabaka pointed out that South Africa had been doing whistleblowing wrong “for a very long time”, highlighting that this had been happening even before democracy.

Lamb, meanwhile, said compared to the private sector, the public sector was always in the media spotlight for corruption, saying this was owing to it being an affront to the citizenry who saw their taxpayer money wasted.

Mazibuko acknowledged this trust deficit between the citizenry, the State and civil society, noting that the prevalence of corruption in this spehere did not absolve other parties that had also practised corruption.

Gauteng Industrial Development Zone and Columbus Stainless nonexecutive director Nelisile Thanjekwayo said corruption was seen so often in the country that citizens had become numb to it.

She noted that nothing much had happened since the Zondo Commission.

“We found out all these facts, we found out all our [taxpayers’] money that was wasteful expenditure and we literally just continued . . . because we see it repeatedly,” she said.

She said it was important to have forums where discussions on measures to curb corruption took place, and said realistic actions must be taken to deal with corruption.