R2K Whistleblowers 2014: Roberta Nation

“I believe that I have throughout my time at Opmed [the State Security Agency’s medical scheme] conducted myself with the utmost integrity and honesty, and my only failing was that I exposed fraud and corruption within the organisation.”

Since being featured in last year’s R2K Whistleblower Calendar, Roberta Nation has continued to fight a long and taxing battle to piece her life back together after blowing the whistle on fraud and mismanagement in the State Security Agency (SSA).

Nation worked for the SSA’s medical scheme, evaluating medical claims made by SSA employees. Whenever she detected claims that appeared to be fraudulent, her attempts to report and investigate the matter brought her into conflict with her direct superiors, and she was victimised and harassed; she says she become a target of suspicion and criticism from her bosses, and was forced to do extra secretarial work on top of her fraud-evaluation duties.

Finally, while on sick leave due to work-related anxiety, she was dismissed. (The Agency says she had been absent without leave, despite evidence that she had notified her managers.)

Nation believes she was fired because of her relentless efforts to report and investigate fraud in the Agency’s medical scheme.

The Protected Disclosures Act (PDA) protects workers who blow the whistle from being fired, suspended, demoted, harassed or intimidated. However, Nation has been forced to go to court to be reinstated; her case is due to be heard in the High Court in 2014. She is requesting to be reinstated as an employee of the SSA, but moved to a different department in light of the long running victimisation she experienced in her former department.

Nation’s struggle highlights the importance of legal protection for whistleblowers in South Africa’s security bodies.

Keep reading: City Press, ‘Spy boss warns lawyer’

Roberta Nation is featured in R2K’s 2014 Whistleblower Calendar. Find out more.