DCJ Zondo at State Capture: ‘We need to protect whistle-blowers’

Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who’s also chairperson of the State Capture Commission, has called for those who speak out against corruption to be protected. His comments came on the same day that Eskom whistle-blower Bianca Goodson took the stand at the commission on Thursday, 4 February 2021.

Zondo said providing protection for whistle-blowers is a critical pillar in combating corruption.

“If people who want to engage in corruption know that there is good chance that somebody might blow the whistle, that does contribute to deterrence,” he said.

“So the country needs to have a good and a strong regime of protection of whistle-blowers. The next thing you want is that those who engage in corruption must know that when the whistle has been blown, the law-enforcement agencies have a good chance of doing an investigation and catching them, and the third thing is that there will be prosecutions and people sent to jail”

Zondo added that failure to defend and guard whistle-blowers against harm, would essentially compromise efforts to address levels of corruption.

Bianca Goodson on how life changed after exposing corruption

Former Trillian CEO Bianca Goodson has been quite vocal about how things took a turn for the worst after she lifted the lid on dirty dealings relating to Eskom and Gupta-linked companies.

Goodson came to prominence as a whistle-blower after she exposed Trillian’s dubious dealings with the power utility. Goodson also implicated US consultancy firm McKinsey, which did work with Trillian and eventually made to pay back more than a billion rand to the power utility.

She has since been divorced, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and is struggling to find a job.

Trillian was owned by Salim Essa, a powerful friend of the Gupta family, who has featured prominently in the State Capture Commission. Goodson was a key contributor to former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s investigation into state capture in 2016.

“The first thing is that I suffered trauma… I thought trauma was only for victims of heinous crimes, I did not realise that what I went through was trauma, but it has been confirmed now that I suffered trauma and I am being treated on a weekly basis for post traumatic stress disorder, I was admitted to a psychiatric hospital earlier this year,” she said in an interview with Johannesburg-based radio station 702.