Treten CAS, a local independent advisory company, has unveiled a whistle-blower Web-based platform, www.e-report.co.za.
According to Treten, the site aims to respond to needs of citizens who prefer to report and whistle-blow without necessarily dealing with personal internal channels within their workplaces or a call centre operator.
“Whistle-blowing is a risky business, but thanks to the digital age, whistle-blowers have the help of the Internet and can almost instantly share information freely and access knowledge that would otherwise be hard to find,” the organisation says.
Terence Murasiki, principal consultant at Treten CAS, says as more South Africans are gradually growing their levels of business conduct via the Internet, more Web-based platforms that make it easier for more citizens to continue with the culture of whistle-blowing are being developed.
“E-report is a reporter-friendly incident-reporting system that encourages individuals with information about fraud, corruption, misconduct and criminal activity to securely and anonymously report it on the portal,” he says.
Treten CAS explains that users of the service are not pressured to reveal their identity but the details of the incident they are reporting are mandatory.
“Reporting criminal activities on e-report is as simple as logging on to the Web site, filling out the report form with all details of the incident and submitting the report. Thereafter, an acknowledgement page and a reference number will be displayed.
“The system is essentially focused on what users want to focus on... reporting the incident,” it adds.
Murasiki also explains that information logged into the system by various persons is analysed by the Treten CAS' team and reported in line with agreed protocol. Information reported on this system is managed and guided by the privacy policy, he adds.
According to Treten, the site is also a safe platform to share information on fraud and corruption, as it makes use of the digital certificates technology, which is the technology used in Internet banking.
The Web and database server are behind a firewall limiting attacks, it states, adding that all data stored in the Web site's database is secure and encrypted.
“Whistle-blowing imposes no burdens on legally operating actors while it is an excellent anti-corruption tool and can discover insider information that would otherwise remain secret,” says Murasiki.
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