Friends and colleagues attended a candlelight vigil for murdered Gauteng Health Chief Director Babita Deokaran, who was shot dead outside her home. File Picture: Itumeleng English/African News Agency (ANA) Archives
On the day the six men accused of killing whistle-blower Babita Deokaran were handed various prison sentences, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation wants further punitive actions.
The foundation wants the 224 companies flagged for alleged corruption blacklisted and the nine implicated officials suspended.
The foundation has since started an online petition on Change.org and by Tuesday, the petition had notched almost 15,000 signatures.
Deokaran was the Chief Director of Financial Accounting in the Gauteng Department of Health, and she was killed in August 2021.
That was after she blew the whistle on corruption related to the procurement of medical supplies for Tembisa Hospital.
On the second anniversary of her killing, the six men nabbed for the crime pleaded guilty before the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.
The six men are Khanyisani Mpungose, Phakamani Dlamini, Nhlangano Ndlovu, Zitha Hadebe, Phakanyiswa Dladla, and Siphiwe Mazibuko.
In its petition, the foundation says what is left now is suspending the workers and blacklisting the companies.
"Nine Tembisa Tertiary Hospital officials who rigged inflated medical supply contracts are still at work, with no disciplinary action having been taken against them, months after the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) identified the officials who rubber-stamped corrupt purchase agreements worth R1 billion," the foundation said.
According to the foundation, the implicated officials include an administration clerk, a financial clerk, and a host of medical staff at Tembisa Hospital.
"Before Deokaran was killed, she had compiled a forensic report profiling 224 companies involved in corruption in the Department of Health.
"In the weeks leading up to her death, Doekaran had flagged R850 million in dodgy payments out of Tembisa Hospital.
"Since then, the SIU has also investigated these 224 companies, but they have still not been blacklisted by the Gauteng Department of Health," the foundation said.
It said the failure to blacklist these companies is shameful and an insult to the legacy of Deokoran, who sacrificed her life to stop corruption.
"Surely this is an insult to the memory of and work done by Babita Deokaran, who gave her life fighting corruption in our country so that we could have a better future.
"If the wheels of justice turn slowly, at the very least we demand that the Gauteng Department of Health, as well as the National Department of Health and Gauteng Premier, intervene," it said.
Meanwhile, Jack Bloom, the DA MPL in the Gauteng Legislature, says the confession by the killers of Deokoran is not enough.
Bloom, who speaks on health matters in the province on behalf of the DA, says the killers must tell the world who sent them to undertake the killing.
"I hope their plea deal includes as much information as possible about those who wanted to stop Babita (from) uncovering massive corruption at the Tembisa Hospital and elsewhere.
“Anything less will be a travesty of justice and a blow to Babita’s family, who are commemorating the second anniversary of her murder tomorrow," Bloom said on Tuesday.
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
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