Gauteng Premier ‘trying to save face’ with Deokaran murder

While mixed reactions met the announcement for an independent forensic investigator to be appointed to probe allegations related to murdered whistleblower Babita Deokaran, the office of the premier said the move would ensure no stone was left unturned.

Spokesperson for the office of the Gauteng premier Mohlalefi Lebotha told The Citizen the appointment fell under the premier’s authority and was prompted by the ongoing investigation and media reports.

“So basically we don’t want to have a situation where we may appear to be ignoring some of the things,” Mohlalefi said.

ALSO READ: Whistleblower Babita Deokaran’s case handed over to independent investigator

However, Wayne Duvenage, CEO of Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), said it was shocking that premier David Makhura wanted to intervene in the investigation “following the media interest”.

“This should have been done right from the beginning. They should have exercised extreme urgency to get to the bottom of exactly what gave rise to the situation,” Duvenage said.

“These are kneejerk reactions of a government trying to save face and show they are doing something – but it’s too little too late.”

Duvenage said the only positive thing coming from this was that the inquiry would more likely be independent and not give people a chance to cover up.

But the question we want answers for is, will this inquiry be made public and will it be independent as stated,” Duvenage asked.

Meanwhile, professor in political science at Stellenbosch University Amanda Gouws said if the government itself investigated the matter, Deokaran might not get justice.

“It’s better to have an outside investigator who is independent and nonpartisan,” she said.

“We know she was going to expose a lot of corruption and that’s why she was killed. “So we don’t know how the corruption in the hospital system is linked to government – but there surely are links, because government dispenses the money to hospitals,” Gouws said.

“So I think for that reason, it’s necessary to bring in an independent investigative team,” she said. According to a News24 investigation, Deokaran had flagged a string of dodgy payments from Tembisa Hospital to various contractors – among them R500 000 for 100 luxury leather chairs.

On Friday, the Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng shadow MEC for health Jack Bloom and the DA Tembisa South constituency head, Refiloe Nt’sekhe, led a picket outside Tembisa Hospital.

They called for the immediate suspension of the hospital’s CEO Ashley Mthunzi. Bloom questioned why it took three weeks for Makhura to react to the explosive revelation of the News24 investigation.

Deokaran feared for her life after she tried to stop “possibly fraudulent” payments by the hospital, Bloom said.

“Even more damning is why is a forensic investigation only being done a full year after she was murdered?

“We now know Deokaran had requested a forensic investigation but this was not acted on by the hospital’s chief financial officer, Lerato Madyo,” Bloom added.

“The first step in any investigation should be the suspension of Madyo and the Tembisa Hospital CEO Ashley Mthunzi,” he said. “It is deplorable that this has not yet happened.”