The recent murder of DJ Warras in South Africa is a devastating reminder that legislative protection does not always translate into lived safety. He reportedly had five protection orders in place. They did not stop retaliation.
This tragedy forces an uncomfortable parallel with whistleblowing policies.
Across sectors, whistleblowers are encouraged to speak up under the assurance that the system will protect them after disclosure. Yet many organisations work tirelessly to conceptually separate whistleblowing from retaliation, as if retaliation were an aberration rather than a predictable human response. This is precisely why so much whistleblower protection legislation is, in practice, irrelevant.
Retaliation rarely begins with overt violence. It often starts with what psychology calls perceived interpersonal provocation:
Exclusion
Insults
Rejection
Threats
Snubs
Taunts
From a neuroscientific lens, retaliation is not irrational—it is rewarding and revenge can feel sweet and cathartic, functioning as a mood repair (Bushman, 2002; Chester & DeWall, 2016)
Retaliatory aggression is amplified when the target is perceived as an outlier—a category whistleblowers frequently occupy. Ancient retributive instincts, combined with modern ideas of “fairness”, "equity" and “deservedness,” fuel escalation.
In an increasingly polarised world, fear and anger intensify this cycle and legislation alone cannot neutralise human neurobiology.
This is why Courageous Conversation training matters. Not as a compliance exercise—but as a protective intervention:
Building skills of de-escalation
Teaching emotional regulation under threat
Equipping leaders to interrupt retaliatory dynamics early
Making retaliation socially and psychologically costly, not rewarding
If we are serious about protecting whistleblowers—or anyone who challenges power—we must stop pretending retaliation is an exception. It is predictable. And what is predictable can be designed for.
Retaliation Is Rewarding. Policy Pretends Otherwise.
Protection must move beyond policy and into capability.
