Babita Deokaran
Babita Deokaran stood no chance. The brave woman, who first lifted the lid on the corruption and malfeasance at Tembisa Hospital, paid with her life when she discovered criminals were about to stage a R2 billion heist at the hospital.
On 23 August 2021, she was snuffed out by hitmen who sprayed her car with bullets, not only shattering the serene morning in the Johannesburg suburb of Mondeor, but sending shockwaves through the whistleblowing community.
Just days before she was slain Deokaran, acting chief director at the Gauteng department of health, had sent a chilling message to her boss, warning her life was in danger. Nothing was done to protect her.
Four years later, Deokaran is fighting back — from the grave. The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) this week released its report into the brazen R2 billion looting of Tembisa Hospital by blood-sucking, shameless tenderpreneurs.
Implicated are tender tycoon Hangwani Maumela and the incarcerated Vusumuzi “Cat” Matlala, whose syndicate stole R816 million. The Rudolf Mazibuko syndicate got away with R283 million, while the X syndicate pocketed R596 million.
This is money that could have saved lives and improved the hospital, but they didn’t care. They needed their Lamborghinis, Bentleys and holiday mansions, and nothing — and nobody — was going to stand in their way.
According to the SIU, Maumela and Matlala are part of five syndicates with tentacles that spread far and wide. Their modus operandi was to invoice for amounts not exceeding R500 000 so the work did not go to tender. They then used several companies linked to themselves to draw millions from the hospital.
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago correctly described the looting as a heist, while Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi stopped short of calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty, as is the case in China, where the punishment for corruption is death.
The Asset Forfeiture Unit has since attached fleets of luxury cars, boats and multi-million rand mansions across Gauteng and the Western Cape and Eastern Cape.
The wheels of justice appear to be turning now, but there are many unanswered questions. What kind of people steal from a hospital meant to help the most vulnerable?
Why and how was this allowed to go on for so long, without someone in the health department putting a stop to it? Did Babita Deokaran have to die for us to wake up to this brazen criminality? And how do we make sure that other whistleblowers don’t meet the same fate?
Deokaran will forever be remembered as a hero, a patriot who, in life as in death, has refused to be silenced.
She died for the truth, not with it.