The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance? Whistleblowing within the Context of State Capture in South Africa
Corruption has been a prevalent phenomenon in South Africa for an extended period, but it was during the presidential reign of Jacob Zuma that corruption evolved into state capture. South African whistleblowers were instrumental in detailing the breadth and depth of state capture during Zuma’s presi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Johannesburg
2023-12-01
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| Series: | The Thinker |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/2863 |
| _version_ | 1827382957327777792 |
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| author | Ugljesa Radulovic |
| author_facet | Ugljesa Radulovic |
| author_sort | Ugljesa Radulovic |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Corruption has been a prevalent phenomenon in South Africa for an extended period, but it was during the presidential reign of Jacob Zuma that corruption evolved into state capture. South African whistleblowers were instrumental in detailing the breadth and depth of state capture during Zuma’s presidency. Their disclosures brought the epidemic of state capture into the public eye, making citizens aware of the crippling of state-owned enterprises and the brazen looting of state resources. The whistleblowers, however, did not expect the backlash they would receive from the wrongdoers and their employers. This article presents the experiences of these whistleblowers, emerging from semi-structured interviews conducted with whistleblowers and civil society, as well as document analysis of relevant sources. The whistleblowers’ disclosure experiences were marred by various forms of retaliation: work-related retaliation; social retaliation; physical retaliation; and a form of retaliation identified from the narratives of South African state capture whistleblowers—retaliatory lawfare. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T14:30:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5eb67b7dd81b45e19f7e1524155e64d1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-2458 2616-907X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T14:30:58Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | University of Johannesburg |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Thinker |
| spelling | doaj.art-5eb67b7dd81b45e19f7e1524155e64d12024-01-12T11:36:04ZengUniversity of JohannesburgThe Thinker2075-24582616-907X2023-12-0197101115The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance? Whistleblowing within the Context of State Capture in South AfricaUgljesa Radulovic0University of Johannesburg Corruption has been a prevalent phenomenon in South Africa for an extended period, but it was during the presidential reign of Jacob Zuma that corruption evolved into state capture. South African whistleblowers were instrumental in detailing the breadth and depth of state capture during Zuma’s presidency. Their disclosures brought the epidemic of state capture into the public eye, making citizens aware of the crippling of state-owned enterprises and the brazen looting of state resources. The whistleblowers, however, did not expect the backlash they would receive from the wrongdoers and their employers. This article presents the experiences of these whistleblowers, emerging from semi-structured interviews conducted with whistleblowers and civil society, as well as document analysis of relevant sources. The whistleblowers’ disclosure experiences were marred by various forms of retaliation: work-related retaliation; social retaliation; physical retaliation; and a form of retaliation identified from the narratives of South African state capture whistleblowers—retaliatory lawfare.https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/2863south africacorruptionstate capturejacob zumawhistleblowers |
| spellingShingle | Ugljesa Radulovic The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance? Whistleblowing within the Context of State Capture in South Africa The Thinker south africa corruption state capture jacob zuma whistleblowers |
| title | The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance? Whistleblowing within the Context of State Capture in South Africa |
| title_full | The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance? Whistleblowing within the Context of State Capture in South Africa |
| title_fullStr | The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance? Whistleblowing within the Context of State Capture in South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance? Whistleblowing within the Context of State Capture in South Africa |
| title_short | The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance? Whistleblowing within the Context of State Capture in South Africa |
| title_sort | unexpected virtue of ignorance whistleblowing within the context of state capture in south africa |
| topic | south africa corruption state capture jacob zuma whistleblowers |
| url | https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/2863 |
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