A candle light vigil held for corruption fighter, Babita Deokaran at Mary Fitzgerald Square in front of the Office of the Premier in Johannesburg, 26 August 2021. Deokaran was a witness in a corruption case and was recently killed in an apparent hit.. Picture: Neil McCartney
The arrest of suspects for the hit on a Gauteng health department official is cold comfort as these are foot soldiers, with experts worried that the assassinations will intensify until the shadowy groups ordering the hits are nabbed.
On Thursday evening police arrested seven suspects in Johannesburg in connection with the murder of senior Gauteng health department finance official Babita Deokaran.
The 53-year-old mother was gunned down on Monday outside her Mondeor house south of Johannesburg, moments after returning from dropping off her teenage daughter at school.
She had been lined up as a witness in the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) probe into multi-million Rand Covid personal protective equipment (PPE) corruption.
According to Theodore Petrus, Associate Professor of anthropology at the University of the Free State, South Africa appears to be dealing with a group of powerful people, waging a battle against any efforts to root out corruption and bring perpetrators to book.
But he lamented that with the compromised justice system, it would be almost impossible for these influential shadow groupings to be exposed and smashed.
“Who are the people at the top giving the orders for these hits to be carried out? Will we be able to find out who these individuals are?” he asked.
“I suspect that this might be a little more difficult for us to answer because they are operating in the shadows and they are people who are connected, who have power, influence and resources at their disposal and they are able to use those in great effect.
“Not only to instruct others to carry out these hits, but also to ensure they themselves remain untouched by the law, that they themselves remain in the shadows, and therefore free to continue with their battle against any efforts to try to root out corruption. The justice system itself has been compromised…” Petrus said.
Also Read: Babita Deokaran: Hitmen allegedly scored R2.8 million to kill Gauteng whistleblower
Petrus said corruption has become so endemic that it is a central part of SA’s social fibre and that the silencing of witnesses has a chilling impact on whistle-blowers coming forward.
He said SA’s justice system operates in such a manner that corruption cases involving high profile individuals tend to drag on for far too long, which becomes detrimental to witnesses.
“It is very difficult for whistle-blowers to want to step up and become involved as witnesses in cases like these because of their own sense of fear that the justice system will not be able to protect them because the justice system is itself corrupt and that by coming out in public, they then expose themselves and make themselves targets for these shadow forces that are utilising their resources to take out any potential threats to their efforts to benefit from corruption,” Petrus added.
According to University of Stellenbosch criminologist Dr Guy Lamb, SA has a problem of using assassins to deal with specific problems, such as silencing witnesses and removing rivals in political contestations.
He said those who expose corruption and whist blowers are very vulnerable to this kind of violence, saying hitmen will not go away as there were people willing to perpetrate this kind of violence.
“The problem is the availability of hitmen, the availability of firearms, and it seems that those who are engaged in corruption are happy to resort to assassinations and in many cases it works. These individuals will get away with it as the investigation will not make any particular progress because key witnesses have been eliminated,” Lamb said.
Police Minister Bheki Cele echoed Petrus and Lamb’s concerns regarding those behind the killings, and said they would leave no stone unturned in finding whoever paid for the hit.
Addressing the media on Friday afternoon, outside the home of murdered police officer Sharon Mogale, Cele said police were on the trail of the masterminds.
“I’m told by the police that this is just the beginning. They are still gonna go very far with the matter. As I have said, those who are arrested are regarded as hitmen, which means we have to find the bosses, the pay masters.
READ MORE: Babita Deokaran: Hitmen allegedly paid R2.8 million to kill Gauteng whistleblower
“Maybe it’s enough to say so without identifying [them], but we believe that when this work is done it will tell us a good story,” the minister said.
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