284 whistle blowing reports classified for investigation
Of the 934 reports received by the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime ( DCEC) for whistle- blowing, only 284 reports were classified for investigation.
Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration Dumezweni Mthimkhu said the DCEC has received 934 reports from whistle blowers since the inception of the law. Mthimkhulu indicated that the remainder of these reports account for either closures, referrals to other departments and or developments. He said generally the DCEC receives reports from known and unknown sources. The Act defines a “Whistle blower” as a person who makes a disclosure of impropriety that is protected in terms of the Act. A whistle blower is thus someone who in good faith, reasonably believes that the disclosure and an allegation of impropriety is substantially true. He explained that further, protection for a whistle blower will effect only if such a disclosure is made to an authorised person in terms of the Act. “Since the inception of the Whistle blowing Act in 2016, its implementation has been met with successes and challenges. Of note, the successes are that the Act has improved on inter agencies cooperation between Government departments and stakeholders. “The Act has also seen most agencies and stakeholders creating and implementing internal whistle- blowing policies so as to give effect to the Act in its organisations.
“Despite the successes, the observed challenges are that although the Act’s application could be extended to private enterprises, the scope is limited in its application. Briefly, the Act focuses more on public enterprises as opposed to private enterprises. “It does not protect anonymous reporters. These challenges have prompted a move by the authorised persons as per the Whistle blowing Act to seek an amendment of the Act and address the identified challenges adequately”, explained the Minister. Mthimkhulu stated that the Whistle blowing Act requires implementation from eight institutions which are referred to as authorised persons under Section 8 of the Whistle blowing Act. He said it is therefore, pertinent that in order for this question to be adequately answered all the Section 8 institutions need to account. According to the Minister, the DCEC is not a centralised point where statistics relevant to the Act are kept. “Other relevant organisations are the Botswana Police Service ( BPS), Botswana Defence Force ( BDF), Botswana Unified Revenue Service ( BURS), Financial Intelligence Agency ( FIA), Competition and Consumer Authority ( CCA), Directorate of Intelligence and Security ( DIS), Botswana Prisons Service, the Ombudsman and the Auditor General. “The sole presentation of statistics from the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime ( DCEC) would therefore not be a true reflection of what obtains in Botswana,” Mthimkhulu said. Mthimkhulu was responding to a question from MP for Sefhare- Ramokgonami Dr. Kesitegile Gobotswang who had asked the Minister to update Parliament on the success and shortcomings in implementing the Whistle blowing Act of 2016.
The Minister was asked to also state: the number of reports that have been received from whistleblowers since the law became operational; the number of reports that were found worthy of further investigation; and how many cases were tried and ended with a conviction.