Only whistleblowers can save SA from corruption…

That is the belief of Mzukisi Makatse, the attorney who first blew the whistle on corruption at the National Lotteries Commission - and lost his job, his car, his house, the hope of marrying the mother of his three children…In this interview with BizNews, he describes how his life imploded after he alerted his employer to an irregular R6 million lottery grant. And he speaks of pride with being vindicated by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe that eventually uncovered R1,4 billion in corrupt dealings, and now has the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) going after the looters. Makastse - who has been awarded the international Blueprint Africa Whistleblowing Prize - says: “We cannot have our own country degenerating into an abyss when we are there and we decide to keep quiet. We cannot keep quiet. Corruption has become a cancer. It has to be rooted out.”