COSATU demands action by the state to protect whistle blowers at Eskom

6 August 2023

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) demands swift action by the state to protect whistle blowers at Eskom. The Federation is deeply shocked by reports in the City Press that workers at Eskom who have blown the whistle on serious allegations of corruption at the utility are now living in fear of being assassinated, have reported being threatened by a hired hitman and are being victimised by management. It is deeply depressing that workers are said to have reported these matters to the Hawks and management and nothing is being done to protect them.

If government is serious about uprooting corruption, then it needs to provide witness protection to these workers at Eskom and investigate and arrest those beyond their threats. COSATU and its Affiliates have raised countless times with government the need to provide witness protection to whistle blowers.

We have seen workers from Vhembe Municipality to the Gauteng Department of Health and countless other organs of state being murdered when they stood up and exposed corruption. Despite the national outcry, their families have yet to see any closure with their loved ones’ assassins and those who hired them remaining at large.

Whilst we may welcome the proposals that the Department of Justice has released on providing witness protection to whistle blowers, these will remain meaningless nice platitudes if we do not see actual action now on protecting the lives of workers who stand up and expose corruption. We cannot afford to become a nation that continues to make international headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Issued by Matthew Parks, Acting National Spokesperson & Parliamentary Coordinator, 6 August 2023