Johannesburg - SAPS whistle-blower Patricia Mashale has reportedly fled the country to an undisclosed location.
Mashale says she will now be appealing to the International Criminal Court for what she terms “hideous crimes committed against innocent citizens”.
At the weekend, Mashale tweeted that she had fled the country to an undisclosed location due to the continued threats to her life.
“I am out of the country, and I am safe. Thank you for the efforts of everyone who still cares for this country. So I mentioned R350 and slaves in the same sentence, and wow! Indeed, you are enslaved by the government, making you believe that R350 is a favour to human dignity… I have finally fled the country and turned into a fugitive, spreading false allegations against SAPS. Now I must be jailed. Catch me if you can; my voice will remain a thunder in your heads until you come clean and give SA back to its rightful owners, not your R350 slaves. I will be back,” she tweeted this week.
Mashale is a former administrative clerk who worked in the Free State Police’s firearms, liquor and second-hand goods departments.
She has in the past revealed that several high-ranking officials within the sector were undocumented immigrants who secured their positions using fake documents.
Since she was dismissed from her job in 2022, she has been living in hiding while communicating her fears via social media.
Mashale said she first reported the wide-scale corruption in 2009 to Bheki Cele, who was the police commissioner at the time.
Last week, Mashale said President Cyril Ramaphosa had a duty to protect whistle-blowers, but was failing them by ignoring information communicated to his office.
“Cyril Ramaphosa, if any whistle-blower gets harmed or killed in the near future, it is on you. You are the president, and you can make a proclamation with immediate effect, but clearly whistle-blowers are not your priority. Only your head on the block is much more important to you,” she said.
The Star