Roger Jardine on whistleblowers, Talking to Strangers and The March of the Folly

When German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited South Africa earlier this month she told students at the University of Pretoria that the youth should stand up against corruption and "name names" and added that they would be surprised how people would come forward and support them. If it wasn't for the whistleblowers who came forward to tell the stories of state capture like Cynthia Stimpel and others; South Africa could still have been in the dark about many of the dodgy deals that happened under former President Zuma's watch. Many lost their jobs and talked about the severe stress they experienced when they decided to point fingers. In a discussion with Biznews founder Alec Hogg, the chairman of FirstRand, Roger Jardine talks about a book he is reading by Tom Mueller, Whistleblowing in an age of Fraud and suggests that whistleblowers should not only enjoy better protection, but that they should receive incentives to come forward in South Africa. The other book under discussion that Jardine links to, is Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers latest book Talking to Strangers and he has a recommendation for all policy makers, The March of Folly. – Linda van Tilburg

Roger Jardine, the FirstRand chairman said when he was growing up his father used to read newspapers and enjoyed books, and growing up in that environment taught him that reading, and learning was valued and treasured. Jardine says he reads several books a year, but it is intermittent because he goes through very busy patches and reads long form articles, but his wife is an author which means he is surrounded by books, writing and literature.

The FirstRand chairman's current read is a book called Crisis of conscience which is a book about whistleblowing and whistleblowers and looks at several major corporate events or scandals, and the people who essentially brought them to light in the first place. Jardine says it is quite a timely book given where we are currently in South Africa and indeed the state of the world. "The shout-outs in the backseat of the book caught my eye as they were written by Daniel Ellsberg who wrote Doomsday Machine and said that whistleblowers were the lifeblood of a republic." Jardine said this proves what an important aspect of democratic discourse whistleblowing is and it should be taken more seriously.

Biznews published Alec Hogg commented that South Africa had unbelievably brave people, brave whistleblowers and most of them were female, and asked Jardine if he found a similar trend in this book.

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