A Critical Analysis of the Corporate Whistleblowing Provisions of the South African Companies Act

Abstract

Section 159 of the South African Companies Act 71 of 2008 regulates corporate whistleblowing in companies registered under the act. This article critically evaluates section 159 to ascertain whether it adequately protects and encourages corporate whistleblowers. It compares this section with the whistleblower provisions in the Australian Corporations Act 2001, which have strongly influenced section 159 and which were recently reformed, and argues that in the light of the distressing levels of corporate corruption, the low reporting rates of wrongdoing and the widespread victimization of whistleblowers, there is a pronounced need to protect corporate whistleblowers in South Africa. It contends that section 159 does not go far enough in protecting and encouraging corporate whistleblowers, and calls for numerous important reforms to be urgently made.