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It is often said that the best art is that which reflects society itself; this is in an attempt to inspire society to correct mistakes of the past and present as it chugs along into the future.
This adage is best borne out in Death of a Whistleblower, a movie that premiered in Johannesburg this week and is now available on the streaming service Amazon.
When her friend and fellow reporter Stanley Galloway (Rob van Vuuren) is murdered for daring to release catastrophic state secrets, investigative journalist Luyanda Masinda (Noxolo Dlamini) figuratively throws herself in front of a fast-moving train as she embarks on a search for those responsible.
READ: Tebogo Khaas | Whistleblowers can show us how to safeguard South Africa's future
Stanley is the latest victim in a string of suspicious killings across South Africa intended to silence those committed to rooting out government corruption. Unperturbed by this pattern, Luyanda is propelled into action, scouring her friend’s files for details about the explosive story he was chasing, knowing it holds the key to exposing his killers.
READ: Dikgang Moseneke | Grooming whistleblowers can deepen our democracy
Luyanda uncovers what Stanley had learned about the government’s latest privatization scheme and the double-dealing profiteers who stand to benefit. Tracking down the identity of his confidential source inside the state department, Luyanda unearths a vile conspiracy and discovers why Stanley’s killers so desperately wanted him silenced
The movie shines a light on how senior government officials are at the beck and call of powerful businessmen. There is a powerful scene where Max Bezuidenhout (Deon Coetzee), a powerful mogul who owns security companies that tend to undermine security in a number of African countries, gives a dressing down to Thuli Yiza (S'thandiwe Kgoroge), a top army official, who has failed to act according to the businessman's expectations. I mean this is a civilian, rich and arrogant, telling a senior army official what and when to do it. The official is of course corrupt and therefore compromised.
The South African film, shot early in 2023, deals with the increasing phenomenon of gangster-style executions awaiting whistleblowers attempting to expose forms of institutional corruption. Recently completed, the film was welcomed at Toronto’s International Film Festival as a work that ‘transcends boundaries and embraces the art of human experience’.
The deaths of whistleblowers in South Africa have been described as a ‘corruption emergency’, posing a serious moral question for the country. The events in Death of a Whistleblower are bracketed by two crimes, committed 37 years apart.
READ: Mcebisi Jonas warns against government outsourcing its responsibilities to 'boardrooms of Sandton'
Without giving the story away, all I can say is that one crime, as fresh as today’s headlines, is revealed near the closing minutes of the film. The other is buried in a cover-up concealed since the eighties. The perennial question of revenge or forgiveness is raised as a key option in the film.
The closing images of the film highlight the true story sacrifice of the lives of five South African whistleblowers all dedicated to sharing the truth with their fellow South Africans, all killed by vengeful gangster-style attacks by shadowy individuals determined to keep the truth in South Africa from seeing the light of day.
They include Sindiso Magaqa and Babita Deokaran whose stories have been covered extensively in the City Press.
READ: Tell us who ordered the hit on Babita, says health minister
The film premiered at the Joburg Film Festival at the Theatre on the Square, Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, on 28 February and streamed on the same day on Amazon Prime.
