When Doing Right Costs You - Protecting Accountants and Auditors When Integrity Puts Them in Harm’s Way (CIBA perspective)

Accountants and auditors are increasingly under threat for exposing corruption and safeguarding public funds. From the tragic assassinations of Babita Deokaran and Mpho Mafole to ongoing intimidation of audit teams, integrity work in South Africa has become dangerous.

CIBA calls for urgent action:

• Society must recognise that attacks on finance professionals are attacks on service delivery itself.

• Government must prioritise protection, enforce existing laws, and back a national Accountants’ Protection & Whistle-blower Support Fund.

• The profession must strengthen whistle-blower systems, implement zero-tolerance retaliation policies, and stand together in solidarity.

Integrity should never cost lives. Protecting those who protect the public purse is no longer optional, it is a national imperative.