Another Whistleblower assassinated in Mangaung

Staff reporter

Bloemfontein – A Mangaung Metropolitan employee and whistleblower was assassinated yesterday in cold blood.

Luzuko Ntlebezo, General Manager for Water at the Mangaung Metro Municipality, succumbed to his death after being shot four times.

While details are still sketchy, Ntlebezo joined a list of whistleblowers killed in line of duty.

Babita Deokaran was a South African whistleblower murdered for reporting corruption at the Gauteng Department of Health where she was working as the acting chief director financial accounting officer.

Another whistleblower was also gunned down in front of his home in 2009 – Moss Phakoe.

In early 2023, Cloete and Thomas Murray were murdered while driving along a national highway. This is, quite obviously, not a complete list of whistle-blowers assassinated in South Africa.

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime has recorded a staggering total of 1,971 assassination cases in South Africa between 2000 and 2021, with whistleblowers often being the targets.
The South African Human Rights Commission(SAHRC) recognizes the urgency of this crisis, stating its “moral and constitutional obligations to ensure that whistleblowers are protected because of the important role they play in fighting corruption.

This is developing story.

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