Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic fantasy — it’s a current essential.
While the merits are evident, AI is not a panacea for all societal ills. Neither can it replace the role of law enforcement. Human beings engaged to uphold the law must do their jobs.
However, the question is whether AI can solve the moral challenges that make justice for all a dream? More urgent, however, is the vital question of whether AI can safeguard whistleblowers once they reveal illegal activities in governments, businesses, and society.
This was among the key points discussed at a recent international legal gathering.
At the Biennial International Bar Association African Regional Forum Conference in Johannesburg last month, jurists and legal experts made a compelling case: AI could be Africa’s most potent weapon in the war against corruption.
They argued that Africa, home to 70% of global mobile money transactions, is uniquely positioned to harness the power of AI. However, it was clear that corruption is a plague, consuming institutions, economies, and lives.
South Africans are familiar with whistleblowers who paid the ultimate price, often losing their lives or livelihoods and suffering severe consequences for doing the right thing.
The name Babita Deokaran, who lost her life for exposing R850 million dodgy tender deals at Tembisa Hospital on the East Rand four years ago, remains a painful reminder of the price whistleblowers pay.
Socio-economic factors contributing to corruption include the fear of career repercussions and systemic issues. Examples from Nigeria, Kenya, and the DRC illustrated how corruption permeates various sectors, including the judiciary systems.
The Zondo Commission’s R1 billion probe into state capture in South Africa began in 2018 and concluded with a report in 2022. But no prosecutions followed.
The term of Shamila Batohi, the National Director of Public Prosecutions at the National Prosecuting Authority, comes to an end with zero state capture convictions under her watch.
For a jurist who once famously grilled South Africa’s disgraced late cricket captain, Hansie Cronje, to the point he confessed “the devil made me do it”, Batohi has been a lame duck law enforcer. Disappointing!
Four years after her death, the Deokaran family still waits for answers. They won’t get any from Batohi.
Whistle-blowing reimagined
That is why the significance of jurists and legal professionals calling for AI to help protect whistleblowers in South Africa and on the African continent takes on greater importance.
The enforcers of the law cannot offer protection for doing the right thing. Our democratic government has pledged to root out corruption. But when the President Cyril Ramaphosa keeps foreign currency in a sofa without as much as a rap on the knuckles, justice has a selective mind.
Or no mind at all, it seems, in the case of Batohi. She is not alone; the South African Police Services, as we hear from the real dialogues driven by Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, are not immune from interference or inaction.
However, the lack of progress on Deokaran highlights the concern for future whistleblowers not just in South Africa, but across the continent.
AI offers a breakthrough.
Imagine systems that sanitise reports, stripping identifiers to protect whistleblowers while preserving evidence robust enough for prosecution.
ENS executive and forensic expert Tendai Jangara was clear that whistleblowing provides the most information in helping to combat corruption; however, hotlines and email platforms set up over the past three decades have proven ineffective.
“Employees know that the message they put out is supposed to be anonymous but will eventually be traced back to them…we need technology in place to protect whistleblowers and enable the necessary information to be obtained, leading to prosecution,” Jangara adds.
“Much is happening, but we are lagging; there is a lot more that AI can do,” she said.
Legal frameworks must catch up
The African Union’s AI for Africa: Artificial Intelligence for Africa’s Socio-Economic Development offers a roadmap.
A Technology Report from the African Union High-Level Panel on Emerging Technologies, published by the African Union Development Agency, states that AI can transform healthcare, agriculture, education, and justice. But infrastructure gaps, digital illiteracy, and weak legal protections for whistleblowers must be addressed. Only Kenya has a national AI strategy.
A call to action
AI is not a silver bullet. But it is a scalpel—precise, powerful, and transformative. Africa must invest in AI infrastructure, education, and policy. Protecting whistleblowers, empowering prosecutors, and building ethical AI systems are not optional; they are urgent.
While this may come as cold comfort to the Deokaran family, it could ensure that those who follow their conscience will be emboldened to do the right thing through to its logical conclusion – without being let down by law enforcement agencies.
The future of justice may well be written in algorithms.
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