WHY A WHISTLEBLOWING HOTLINE
Fraud, corruption and general irregularities are an increasing problem in South Africa. Too often, it is undetected and goes unreported, resulting in financial losses to companies, eventually to the detriment of employees, the public, Government Departments and State-owned Entities.
Our Whistleblowing Hotline service will enable our customer organization stakeholders, to report anonymously any fraudulent activities, corrupt practices, unethical conduct and general irregularities within the organization. We are a professional independent Safeline-Ex certified service provider.
The Hotline is a safe, secure and reliable place to report the following type of incidents, including but not limited to:
⬤ Corruption – Abuse of authority; Bribery; Coercion/Extortion; Collaboration; Conflict of interest; Contract and procurement irregularity; Favouritism/Nepotism; Maladministration
⬤ Fraud – Contract and procurement misrepresentation; Forgery, Human resource misrepresentation; Misrepresentation; Scam
⬤ Misappropriation of resource – Fruitless and wasteful expenditure; Mismanagement of funds; Misuse or abuse of Property, Plant or Equipment; Theft; Time and attendance abuse
⬤ Unethical conduct – Breach of code of conduct; Discrimination; Disregard of internal policies or procedures; Harassment: Victimization
⬤ Highly sensitive issues – Sexual Harassment; Racism; Crime
WHO IS A WHISTLEBLOWER?
A whistleblower is a person who discloses information about wrongdoing in the workplace and reasonably believes that there is evidence of gross mismanagement or activity that is illegal, criminal, unethical, corrupt or in violation of the law.
Whistleblowers have the choice to:
⬤ Remain anonymous to the Hotline and the organization – Anonymous
⬤ Reveal identity to the Hotline but remain anonymous to the organisation – Partially anonymous
⬤ Reveal identity to the Hotline and the organisation – Disclosure of identity
REPORTING CHANNELS
We offer seven alternative reporting channels to customer employees and other stakeholders, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, making the decision to report fraud and corruption that much easier, these are via:
⬤ Free Call Number
⬤ Website
⬤ Mobile application
⬤ SMS
⬤ Fax
⬤ Post
INCIDENT REPORTING PROCESS
⬤ Whistleblower reports incident via preferred reporting channel
⬤ Agent interviews caller using an approved questionnaire to compile an incident report with emphasis on who, what, when, where, why and how
⬤ Each incident reported allocated a unique reference number
⬤ Incident report reviewed by Team leader and Manager
⬤ Incident report is password protected and distributed to designated customer recipient within 24 hours
⬤ Designated customer recipient provides updates and feedback to the Hotline
⬤ Hotline provides updates to whistleblower
⬤ Reported incident could result in a conviction
SafeLine-EX Standard
Safeline-EX is a set of best-practice norms and standards as derived from international practices in terms of the provision of an independent, external safe reporting facility for organisations and is applicable to independent whistle-blowing hotline service providers. The primary purpose of assessment and certification is to protect the whistle-blower. This person must be able to trust that their report will be treated confidentially.
The Safeline-EX Standard is based on five guiding norms which balance whistle-blower interests, organisational needs and operational requirements. They are:
