Statement on Whistleblower Retaliation at the Government Pensions Administration Agency

MEDIA STATEMENT

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA: Tuesday, 2 September 2025 — Public Interest SA is appalled by the brazen and unconscionable attack on whistleblowers at the Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA). The reported decision to hire Nexus Forensic Services to unmask those who exposed corruption within the institution is nothing less than a witch-hunt against men and women of integrity. These individuals should be commended, not persecuted, for doing what is expected of any ethical citizen: shining a light on wrongdoing that threatens the integrity of our public institutions and the pensions of countless civil servants.

We note with particular indignation the complicity — whether active or tacit—of professional bodies such as the Institute of Commercial Forensic Practitioners (ICFP) and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). By turning a blind eye to their members’ participation in retaliatory practices, these bodies debase their own professed codes of ethics and shred public trust in their oversight. They must account for their members’ involvement in what is clearly an abuse of forensic tools to intimidate whistleblowers instead of holding the corrupt to account.

The fact that GPAA executives — already under investigation for procurement irregularities amounting to over R2 billion — are now directing public funds to silence and punish those who exposed their misdeeds is an intolerable insult to both justice and accountability. This travesty deepens the suspicion that the very people implicated in wrongdoing are weaponising institutional resources to shield themselves.

As shareholder representative of the GPAA, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana bears the constitutional and moral duty to intervene decisively. He must halt this onslaught, protect the integrity of the whistleblowers, and ensure that the focus remains squarely on investigating and prosecuting the alleged corruption—not persecuting those who acted in the public interest. Anything less would amount to condoning state-sponsored victimisation of whistleblowers.

"We are actively exploring legal avenues to put an end to this unconscionable retaliation. We will not stand idly by while public servants who act with courage and conscience are hounded for protecting the pensions of millions of current and retired government employees.

This latest episode underscores, yet again, the urgent need for South Africa to overhaul its broken whistleblower protection framework. Until whistleblowers are guaranteed robust, independent protection against reprisal, corruption will continue to thrive, and institutions will remain compromised by impunity.

Whistleblowers are not the enemy — they are the last line of defence between corruption and the collapse of public trust. To punish them is to punish integrity itself," says Tebogo Khaas, chairperson of Public Interest SA.

END

📸 Shalene Rood / News24 

Issued by Public Interest SA