{"id":96987,"date":"2026-04-09T13:00:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/draft-bill-proposes-penalties-for-whistleblower-disclosure"},"modified":"2026-04-09T13:11:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:11:07","slug":"draft-bill-proposes-penalties-for-whistleblower-disclosure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/draft-bill-proposes-penalties-for-whistleblower-disclosure","title":{"rendered":"Draft Bill Proposes Penalties for Whistleblower Disclosure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>A draft bill on the protection of whistleblowers suggests criminal prosecution and direct imprisonment for anyone who releases the identity of a whistleblower.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Minister of Justice Mmamoloko Kubayi officially released the Protected Disclosure Bill.<\/p>\n<p>It is set to strengthen the protection of people who disclose information on corruption or unlawful activities.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed Protected Disclosure Bill is designed to address the shortcomings and gaps of current legislation, which was highlighted by the chair of the State Capture Commission of Inquiry, Justice Raymond Zondo.<\/p>\n<p>Under the current Protected Disclosure Act, there are no criminal sanctions for people who blow the cover of whistleblowers, and they are not catered for in witness protection.<\/p>\n<p>But Kubayi said if the new bill passes, offenders could face prison time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese offences attract serious penalties, including fines and imprisonment of up to 10 or 15 years, depending on the nature of the offence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kubayi said this also extends to managers and employers who fail to act once they have been alerted about corruption or unlawful acts by whistleblowers.<\/p>\n<p>The bill is now open for public comment, and submissions can be made until 14 May 2026.<\/p>\n<p><b>STRINGENT TIMELINES<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The new draft law concerning whistleblowers has proposed stringent timelines for addressing tip-offs on corruption and unlawful activities.<\/p>\n<p>The Protected Disclosure Bill, which is now out for public comment, also gives timelines for addressing complaints and tip-offs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDisclosures must be acknowledged within five days, decisions taken within ten days, and investigations completed within 12 months, subject to limited extensions. The central database will enable tracking, monitoring and accountability in ensuring compliance with these timelines,\u201d said Kubayi.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">South-Africa<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. A draft bill on the protection of whistleblowers suggests criminal prosecution and direct imprisonment for anyone who releases the identity of a whistleblower. On Thursday, Minister of Justice Mmamoloko Kubayi officially released the Protected Disclosure Bill. It is set to strengthen the protection of people who disclose information on corruption or unlawful [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":96986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-96987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Draft Bill Proposes Penalties for Whistleblower Disclosure - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A draft bill on the protection of whistleblowers suggests criminal prosecution and direct imprisonment for anyone who re ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/draft-bill-proposes-penalties-for-whistleblower-disclosure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Draft Bill Proposes Penalties for Whistleblower Disclosure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A draft bill on the protection of whistleblowers suggests criminal prosecution and direct imprisonment for anyone who re ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/draft-bill-proposes-penalties-for-whistleblower-disclosure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-09T13:00:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-09T13:11:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/04\/sm_1775727644.079126.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/draft-bill-proposes-penalties-for-whistleblower-disclosure#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/draft-bill-proposes-penalties-for-whistleblower-disclosure\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Draft Bill Proposes Penalties for Whistleblower Disclosure\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-09T13:00:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-09T13:11:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/draft-bill-proposes-penalties-for-whistleblower-disclosure\"},\"wordCount\":283,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/draft-bill-proposes-penalties-for-whistleblower-disclosure#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/04\/sm_1775727644.079126.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/draft-bill-proposes-penalties-for-whistleblower-disclosure#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/draft-bill-proposes-penalties-for-whistleblower-disclosure\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/draft-bill-proposes-penalties-for-whistleblower-disclosure\",\"name\":\"Draft Bill Proposes Penalties for Whistleblower Disclosure - 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