The Tembisa Hospital Heist Part 1 (The Assassination of a Whistleblower)

Summary

On August 23, 2021, Babita Deokaran, a 53-year-old health official and whistleblower, was assassinated outside her Johannesburg home after exposing tender irregularities involving 332 million Rands. After dropping her daughter at school and shopping, she was followed and fatally shot by gunmen in a coordinated attack. Despite initial breakthroughs in the investigation, including arrests and the recovery of key evidence, the masterminds behind her murder remain elusive. The case highlights the dangers faced by whistleblowers and the urgent need for better protection against corruption in South Africa. Two years later, six men pleaded guilty and were sentenced, yet questions about the broader conspiracy and accountability for corruption persist.

Takeaways

• 😢 Babita Deokaran, a 53-year old whistleblower, was shot and killed outside her home in Johannesburg.
• 😱 She was shot 10 times by gunmen in a white BMW who had been staking out her home.
• 🕵️‍♂️ Babita had exposed over $22 million in government corruption related to PPE contracts.
• 👮 Police used video footage and tips to identify suspects involved in the murder.
• 🚔 7 suspects were arrested including former soldiers and taxi operators.
• 🏢 The suspects had rented safe houses near Babita's home to monitor her movements.
• 🔫 Guns, cell phones and cash were found during police raids of the safe houses.
• 😔 Babita's murder was likely meant to silence her from revealing more corruption.
• 🤝 All 6 murder suspects ultimately pleaded guilty and received 6-22 year sentences.
• ❓ Questions remain about whether more people were involved in the corruption.

Q & A

What was Babita Deokaran's age at the time of her death?

Babita Deokaran was 53 years old at the time of her death.

What type of vehicle was Babita Deokaran in when she was attacked?

Babita Deokaran was in her gray Mercedes-Benz when she was attacked.

How many times was Babita Deokaran shot during the attack?

Babita Deokaran was shot 10 times during the attack.

What significant act had Babita Deokaran performed related to her job before her death?

Babita Deokaran had uncovered a corruption involving about 332 million Rands related to her job before her death.

What evidence led to the first breakthrough in the murder investigation of Babita Deokaran?

The first breakthrough in the murder investigation came when investigators received information about a white unmarked BMW, seen on several occasions parked in front of Babita Deokaran's house, which was used by the hitmen.

How many suspects were arrested in connection with Babita Deokaran's murder?

At least seven suspects were arrested in connection with Babita Deokaran's murder.

Were any of the suspects arrested health or government officials?

None of the suspects who appeared in court in the morning were Department of Health officials.

What was the outcome of the court case regarding the suspects in Babita Deokaran's murder?

All six people accused in the murder of Babita Deokaran pleaded guilty and were sentenced to between 6 and 22 years in relation to the murder charge.

What motivated the assassination of Babita Deokaran according to the script?

The assassination of Babita Deokaran was motivated by her actions to stop her from revealing the names of people involved in financial irregularities at her place of work.

What sentiment did Babita Deokaran's family express regarding the closure and justice for her murder?

Babita Deokaran's family expressed that nothing would ever bring closure due to her loss and emphasized their faith in the justice system, hoping that the case would not be swept under the carpet and that another chapter shall be exposed.

Outlines

00:00

😱 Assassination of Corruption Whistleblower Babita Deokaran

On August 23, 2021, 53-year-old Babita Deokaran, a senior official at the Gauteng Department of Health, was assassinated outside her home in Johannesburg shortly after exposing over 300 million Rands in corruption. She was shot multiple times by suspects in a white BMW who had been surveilling her home. Deokaran died an hour later in the hospital. Her murder was likely in retaliation for uncovering dodgy PPE contracts.

05:01

😥 Arrests Made in the Murder Case of Babita Deokaran

In August 2023, six suspects were arrested and charged with the 2021 murder of corruption whistleblower Babita Deokaran. The suspects were sentenced to between 6-22 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, and firearms offenses. It is believed Deokaran was assassinated to prevent her from revealing names involved in tender corruption, though some questions remain unanswered.

Keywords

💡whistleblower

A whistleblower is a person who exposes secret or confidential information about an organization, especially related to corruption or other illegal activities. Babita Deokaran was a whistleblower who uncovered over $20 million in corruption related to PPE contracts in South Africa's health department. She was murdered for exposing this corruption, showing the danger whistleblowers can face.

💡assassination

The assassination of Babita Deokaran refers to her being murdered by gunmen outside her home. She was shot multiple times in her car. Assassination indicates she was specifically targeted and killed for political reasons, in this case to silence her as a whistleblower.

💡corruption

Corruption refers to the misuse of public office or resources for private gain. Babita Deokaran uncovered corruption in PPE contracts worth millions of dollars. Corruption was the motive for her assassination, as she was murdered for exposing corruption.

💡PPE contracts

PPE stands for personal protective equipment. Deokaran exposed corruption and irregularities in government contracts for procuring PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health officials were embezzling money through these emergency contracts.

💡investigation

After Babita's assassination, the police carried out an intensive investigation to find her killers. They gathered evidence from the crime scene, CCTV footage, tracked the vehicles involved, and arrested suspects. The investigation brought some justice.

💡breakthrough

The police investigation had a major breakthrough when a neighbor gave them the license plate number of a suspicious vehicle staking out Deokaran's home before the assassination. This breakthrough allowed them to identify and arrest the culprits.

💡sentencing

In the end, all six people involved in assassinating Babita Deokaran pleaded guilty. They received prison sentences ranging from 6 to 22 years on charges like murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, and firearm possession.

💡closure

For Babita's family, the sentencing of her killers brought some closure, but they said nothing can fully compensate for her tragic murder. Though justice was served, questions remain about who ordered the assassination.

💡safe houses

The suspects had rented nondescript rooms or 'safe houses' near Deokaran's home which they used as bases for monitoring her movements and launching the assassination. Police tracked them down there.

💡silencing

Babita Deokaran's assassination was likely intended to silence her as a whistleblower exposing corruption. By killing her, the culprits aimed to cover up the fraud she had uncovered in PPE contracts.

Highlights

Introduces a new method for analyzing complex systems using a modular approach

Proposes a framework for integrating machine learning into quantum computing algorithms

Presents evidence that calls into question previously accepted theories about dark matter

Demonstrates techniques to reduce bias in large language models

Shows how neural networks can be adapted to model chaotic systems

Describes a new architecture for building transparent and explainable AI systems

Provides insights into developing more robust reinforcement learning algorithms

Outlines an approach to verifiable and safe AI alignment

Presents a method to enhance privacy in federated learning

Introduces techniques to improve sample efficiency in few-shot learning

Proposes using causal inference to address distribution shift in machine learning models

Demonstrates a system for explainable question answering using natural language processing

Shows how adversarial training can improve model robustness

Presents strategies for reducing algorithmic bias in predictive models

Introduces techniques for enabling trust and transparency in AI

Transcripts

on the 23rd of August 2021 53-year-old B

beat at theaker and was shot multiple

times while seated in her gray

mercedesbenz which was parked in front

of her house she was quickly rushed to a

nearby hospital where she would die of

her gunshot WS an hour

later on the day that babita was killed

it's alleged that she left her home

shortly before 8:00 a.m. in the morning

to drop her 16-year-old daughter at

school after dropping her daughter off

she would go to a local Checkers in the

area to buy a few

groceries at 8:30 she was caught on CCTV

footage leaving the Checker's parking

lot however without her noticing a white

BMW and a silver VW polo were following

her the white BMW followed her until she

stopped her vehicle into her apartment's

front gate the Bea stayed at the Mander

Apartments a residential complex

situated at the south of

Johannesburg while she was waiting for

the front gate of her apartment to open

the white BMW which was following the

beta pulled upright next to her car the

individuals who were inside the BMW

would then pull out semi-automatic guns

and shot at B's car punching holes

through the

mercedesbenz the BMW would speed away

from the scene soon after the shooting

when it drove off diaran sat in her car

bleeding she was shot 10 times at that

point a few minutes after the shooting

rakash akaran who was bab's brother got

a phone call from his sister 's

neighbors the neighbors told him that

babida had been wounded in a shooting

incident babida was still there being

placed into an ambulance when her

brother arrived at the scene she was

taken by emergency medical technicians

to the Netcare Union Hospital which was

about 20 minutes away rakash thakar and

meanwhile collected Baba's 16-year-old

daughter thear from school the two would

then drive to the hospital where babita

had been admitted little more than an

hour later her teenage daughter

whispered a final tearful goodbye before

doctors turned off the machines that had

been keeping B Alive she died of her

gunshot wounds at about 9:00 a.m. the

same

day we are amazed that an official of

this high rank with such Integrity like

her and the courage to come forward and

expose this corruption and I think it is

now not a secret but I think on some

media coverages they explained that she

uncovered a uh a Corruption of about 332

million Rams and when she sto that at

that point in time warning Bell should

be that this officer's life is in danger

she was Brave she was courageous she did

the right thing she won't compromise and

you know we're proud of her for that but

did she has to lose their life our

question th is where is state protection

for whistleblowers and the honest

dedicated civil servants that want to

speak up and eradicate corruption from

our country and our government on the

26th of August 2021 exactly 3 days after

the assassination of babida diaran the

South African Police Service special

Investigation Unit visited the murder

scene they gathered Clues and followed

up on leads that might help in the

capture of those responsible for the

heinous crime the first breakthrough for

the police came when investigators

received information from residents of

the suburb where the murder occurred

Thea's neighbor would alert police that

he had seen a white on Mark BMW on three

different occasions parked in front of

babita's house weeks before her death

the occupants of the BMW took pictures

of the house the quick thinking neighbor

took photographs of the car and wrote

down the registration number according

to police this was the very same BMW

that was used by the headman who

assassinated but bakaran it was this

vital piece of information that enabled

investigators to trace the vehicle to a

former South African National Defense

Force member who stayed in Petoria

during their investigation police

detectives would also obtain CCTV

footage from gaba's Neighbors in the

footage they saw several other vehicles

which have been scouting the area around

but beat his home one of the vehicles

which police observed was a gray VW polo

the car was registered to a pamon hadp a

taxi owner from rural Durban when police

tracked his location down they found out

that he was staying in turf hunting a

suburb which was a 10 minutes drive to

Baba's house the Hawks and also crime

intelligence would hold off on making an

arrest on pamman hadab at that point

instead they waited for him to lead them

to other suspects the police's tracking

of pamman hadab bore fruit and soon they

identified the other people who were

involved in the murder of babida deakin

let's start here there has been a

breakthrough in the murder of PPE

whistleblower babita de Kuran at least

seven suspects have been arrested for

her murder the howang health official

was Gunn down outside her Johannesburg

home on Monday she was one of many key

Witnesses in the investigation to dodgy

PPE contracts now five of the seven

suspects were arrested in rosettenville

in Johannesburg last night we can

confirm as the NPA that six suspects

appeared in court today uh facing

charges of murder attempted murder

conspiracy to commit murder H possession

of unlicensed firearm and ammunition the

seventh uh suspect that was arrested

could not be placed on the RO due to the

fact that there was no evidence of their

involvement uh so far the information

that we received uh in the tocket is

that um uh the deceased was together

with uh another person in the vehicle

during the incident we are still at the

uh infant stages of the case not much

can be said nor can we reveal

the state evidence via the media matter

has a ventilated in part we still have

um outstanding suspects that we are

looking into there's intelligence that

we are working with and we are following

up on that information and uh we can

actually confirm that uh more arrest

will be imminent actually and were any

of those arrested Health officials

government officials none of the

suspects who appeared in court this

morning uh any of the Department of

Health

officials

Z and Mao as well as sapak kanisa zad

have all been charged with murder

attempted murder conspiracy to commit

murder and the possession of an

unlicensed firearm and ammunition four

of the suspects were arrested in a back

room that they had rented a month prior

in a suburb called rosettenville one

other suspect was detained in another

back room which was a few minutes away

all the safe houses were in immediate

proximity to deakin's home pamman hadab

would also get arrested by the Hawks and

his back room in Turf fonting in his

room police recovered several cell

phones some even hidden in the toilet

they also found a bank deposit slip

which was for 40,000 R in their series

of raids the police recovered two VW

polos and two handguns conspicuously

absent however was the white BMW used in

the shooting the car has still not been

found to this day

all six people accused in the murder of

whistleblower babita diaran have pleaded

guilty this after the state and defense

entered a plea and sentence agreement

today hang Health official deokaran was

killed in 2021 after exposing tender

irregularities at Tima hospital all the

accused were sentenced to between 6 and

22 years in relation to the murder

charge accused number four was sentenced

to 7 years for possession of an illegal

firearm and

ammunition on the 23rd of August 2023

exactly 2 years after the assassination

of babida di aaran the man accused of

her murder plated guilty to all charges

they received different sentences based

on the role each played ranging from 6

years to 22 years the six men faced

charges of murder attempted murder and

the illegal possession of firearms and

ammunition the count of attempted murder

relates to a person who was in dian's

car at the time of the shooting it is

clear that this Act of Killing Baba was

to stop her from revealing the names of

people involved in the financial

irregularities at her place of work it

is not clear ifos Oro are one of those

per persons or there may be others this

will remain a big question to this court

and to the family and that question

cannot be answered by this court at this

stage nothing will ever bring closure to

it the mere fact that she lost her life

and she has missed every single day so

hence nothing would ever bring closure

that I have faith in our justice system

and our state so going forward I would

like to see this not swept under the

carpet now another chapter sh be shall

be exposed and I'm hoping that it does

in

Jos