The statement deals with whistle-blowing and reads as follows :
“Whistle-blowing is about raising a concern about misconduct within an organisation”.
The responses (see Table 5.6.1) below indicate that 85.3% of the respondents agree with the statement, while 7.4% of the respondents disagree with the statement that whistle blowing is an act that deserves praise. Table 5.6.1 Freq. Distribution. Strongly Disagree 1 1.5% Disagree 2 2.9% Neutral 3 4.4% Agree 57 83.8% Strongly Agree 5 7.4% Total 68 100%
Source: Section B of the questionnaire
The next statement dealt with the preferred method of whistle-blowing and reads as follows:
“The best way of blowing the whistle is to blow the whistle internally”.
The response (see Table 5.6.2) indicates that 83.8% of the respondents agreed with the statement, while 7.4% of the respondents disagreed. The responses further indicate that 2.9% of the respondents were neutral, while 1.5% of the respondents strongly disagreed with the statement and 4.4% of the respondents strongly agreed with the statement. There is a significant difference of 76.4% between the respondents who agreed with the statement and those who disagreed with the statement.
Table 5.6.2 Freq. Distribution. Strongly Disagree 1 1.5% Disagree 5 7.4% Neutral 2 2.9% Agree 57 83.8% Strongly Agree 3 4.4% Total 68 100%
The next statement reads as follows:
“The best way of whistle-blowing is to blow the whistle externally”.
The response (see Table 5.6.3) indicates that 51.5% of the respondents disagreed with the statement and that 36.8% of the respondents agreed. This indicates that the majority of the respondents exhibited a positive attitude towards external whistle-blowing because external whistle-blowing is justifiable only as a last resort if internal channels have been exhausted or are unavailable or unusable or when organizational procedures/policies are not in place. Table 5.6.3 Freq. Distribution. Strongly Disagree 2 2.9% Disagree 35 51.5% Neutral 3 4.4% Agree 25 36.8% Strongly Agree 3 4.4% Total 68 100%
Source: Section B of the questionnaire
The following statement is about the key obstacles that exist against unethical conduct. It reads as follows:
“One of the key obstacles in the fight against unethical conduct by police officers is the fact that individuals are often too intimidated to speak out or ‘blow the whistle’ on corrupt and unlawful activities they observe done by their colleagues”.
The responses (see Table 5.6.4) below, indicate that 83.8% of the respondents agreed with the statement, while 8.8% of the respondents strongly agreed with the statement. Camerer (2001:2) argued that “although employees may have the duty to report misconduct in terms of their conditions of employment, those who do stick their necks out and
raise concerns are mostly victimised intimidated and would have little recourse to legal remedies”.
Table 5.6.4 Freq. Distribution. Strongly Disagree 1 1.5% Disagree 1 1.5% Neutral 3 4.4% Agree 57 83.8% Strongly Agree 6 8.8% Total 68 100%
Source: Section B of the questionnaire
The statement below deals with the impact of whistle-blowing:
“Often those who stick their necks out and raise concerns about the wrong-doing are victimised, intimidated, harassed and isolated by their colleagues.”
The statistical findings of this statement below in Table 5.6.5, indicate that 70.6% agreed with the statement, while 22.1% disagreed with the statement. Camerer (2001:2) argues that, “one of the key obstacles in the fight against unethical conduct is the fact that without legal protection, individuals are often too intimidated to speak out or blow the whistle on corrupt practices they observe in the workplace”. It can be for this reason that some of the respondents agreed or disagreed with the statement.
Table 5.6.5 Freq. Distribution. Strongly Disagree 0 0.0% Disagree 15 22.1% Neutral 1 1.5% Agree 48 70.6% Strongly Agree 4 5.9% Total 68 100%
The following statement is about the key obstacles against unethical conduct. The following statement deals with the fear of blowing the whistle and reads as follows:
“While police officers are usually the first to know about the wrong doing, they feel they stand to lose the most by speaking up”.
The response to this statement in Table 5.6.6 indicates that 73.5% of the respondents agreed with the statement and that 5.9% of the respondents strongly agreed with the statement. Stoddard (2006:4) agrees with the statement that while police officers as employees are people best placed to raise a concern and so enable the risk to be removed or reduced, they are also the people who have the most to lose if they do.
Table 5.6.6 Freq. Distribution. Strongly Disagree 1 1.5% Disagree 10 14.7% Neutral 3 4.4% Agree 50 73.5% Strongly Agree 4 5.9% Total 68 100%
Source: Section B of the questionnaire
Perception of whistle-blowers as ‘impimpis’, or troublemakers. The statement deals with whistle-blowers being labelled as ‘impimpis’ and as troublemakers and reads as follows:
“ The fear of being labelled ‘impimpis, a ‘sneak’ or a troublemaker and appearing disloyal to colleagues, and the fear of being required to provide irrefutable evidence are powerful disincentives to speaking out”.
The response rate on this statement in Table 5.6.7 indicates that 80.9% of the respondents agreed with the statement, while 14.7% of the respondents strongly agreed with the statement. This indicates that whistle-blowers have unfairly acquired a bad reputation as being
troublemakers, busybodies and disloyal employees. A major cause of this negative perception is the unfair confusion of whistle-blowers with ‘impimpis’- apartheid era informants who betrayed their comrades often with devastating consequences (Camerer, 2001:1).
Table 5.6.7 Freq. Distribution. Strongly Disagree 0 0.0% Disagree 1 1.5% Neutral 2 2.9% Agree 55 80.9% Strongly Agree 10 14.7% Total 68 100%
Source: Section B of the questionnaire