"Fighting a failing system": South Africa's whistleblower crisis deepens after assassination

“HER husband died a hero, that's all I can tell her.”

This is the message Nicolette Kinnear, widow of celebrated policeman and former section commander in the Anti-Gang Unit, Charl Kinnear who was murdered outside his Bishop Lavis home, said she would convey to Marius van der Merwe’s grieving widow.

Van der Merwe, a crucial witness at the Madlanga Commission, was shot dead outside his Brakpan home on Friday. Van der Merwe, a security company owner, had implicated the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) in his testimony, alleging that they had been involved in the torture and murder of an unnamed man, and he was forced to dispose of the body.

He was apparently on the verge of exposing the links between powerful politicians and illegal miners (Zama-Zama’s). 

Speaking to the Cape Times on Tuesday, Nicolette said her heart bled for Van der Merwe’s widow, “as nothing that nobody says or does can change anything”.

“The same thing I've been saying all along, we are fighting a failing system. We ask ourselves why people don't want to come forward and talk and the answer is evident, this is the result of it. He (testified) in-camera. Likewise we ask why are policemen keeping quiet… look what happened to my husband.” 

In the back of his mind, Van der Merwe probably gave all these things thought, despite that, he decided he is going to go (testify at the commission), even if it cost his life, then so be it, she said. 

“I commend him and all other whistleblowers. I just trust and pray to God that it does not work in the favour of the criminal elements, in terms of scaring people. People are becoming afraid to come forward because of what has happened to them. It doesn’t matter which way you look at it—presidential funerals, lowering flags to half-mast, none of that is going to bring any of those people back. Yet again, they’ve failed another family. They come and give you all these promises, but at the end of the day, you’re the one who lost a loved one, a partner of so many years. You have to explain it to your children if you still have small kids. Life goes on,” she said.  

Nicolette urged others to not “give in to these corrupt officials, this corrupt government, and let them get away with it”.

Most South African whistleblowers feel government pronouncements about whistleblower protections are little more than lip service, and are not backed up by concrete action, according to international non-profit Blueprint for Free Speech. 

Van der Merwe’s assassination is a clarion call that whistleblower protections in South Africa are in dire need of urgent overhaul, the organisation lamented.

“Studies have shown whistleblowing can play a significant role in combating corruption. That the Whistleblower Protection Bill recommended by the State Capture Commission in 2022 has yet to be passed into law speaks volumes about the lack of urgency shown in implementing effective whistleblower protections,” said Suelette Dreyfus, executive director of Blueprint for Free Speech. 

“Whistleblowers are the first and often last line of defence in protecting the health of any democracy. It is therefore of vital importance that the South African government pass the Whistleblower Protection Bill without delay, immediately beef up whistleblower protections, and provide visible, public and effective support to those who bravely choose to make disclosures in the public interest.” 

Van der Merwe now joins brave South Africans who were murdered after exposing wrongdoing in the public interest.

Among them are several past recipients of the annual Blueprint Whistleblowing Prize, including Babita Deokaran, Marumo Eric Phenya, and one of this year’s honourees, Pamela Mabini.

Several other South African whistleblowers honoured with Blueprint prizes in the past have faced death threats, assassination attempts and were placed under physical surveillance. 

“I will probably get my flowers when I’m six feet underground. Because that’s how our government operates,” said another 2025 Blueprint Whistleblowing Prize winner, Tumiso Mphuthi.

Cape Times