South Africa: Revealed - How Whistleblowers Worked With Activists to Stem Prasa Looting

What the report says

An AllAfrica-published GroundUp report says former PRASA officials Martha Ngoye and Tiro Holele are asking South Africa’s Constitutional Court to reconsider its refusal to hear their appeal in a long-running dismissal dispute linked to corruption disclosures at the rail agency. The pair, who were removed from their posts in early 2021, have spent about five years trying to have their whistleblower status recognised and to secure reinstatement.

The article says activist group #UniteBehind has applied to intervene in the case, or alternatively to be admitted as a friend of the court. Its director, Zackie Achmat, filed an affidavit describing how whistleblowers and activists worked together to expose alleged looting and weak anti-corruption action at PRASA. He argues that the broader public-interest context was not fully considered when earlier courts treated the matter mainly as a labour dispute.

According to the report, the Labour Court initially ruled that Ngoye and Holele should be reinstated, but the Labour Appeal Court later overturned that outcome and the Constitutional Court declined to hear the matter. The latest filing seeks to have that decision rescinded. The story also places the dispute in the wider PRASA corruption saga, noting previous efforts to challenge unlawful contracts and recover losses, including work associated with former board chair Popo Molefe and later activism around alleged misconduct at the agency.

The case matters because it raises questions about whistleblower protection, remedies for unlawful dismissal, and how courts should weigh corruption-fighting roles inside public institutions.