The memorial celebrated and honoured Babita Deokaran’s courage one year after her assassination. She was one of many whistle-blowers, filled with integrity, who was assassinated for speaking out and investigating the corruption in their sectors. 

Babita was acting chief financial officer at the Gauteng Department of Health. She was also a key witness in an ongoing Special Investigating Unit probe into the alleged corrupted procurement tenders of personal protective equipment in the department, the province and throughout SA. The 53-year-old was shot outside her home in Winchester Hills, Johannesburg on 23 August 2022 after she’d dropped off her daughter at school.

As a young South African, I am shocked by the lengths people will go to cover up their corruption and wrongdoing. Babita, as a health department whistle-blower, suffered the ultimate price for standing up and following her conscience. The six men who allegedly took her life were allegedly hired hit men and were arrested, showing the people behind the corruption appointed these men. The murder of Babita Deokaran had a predetermined outcome. 

While Babita’s death still pains us, many of the corrupters behind her death walk free.  Many speakers reiterated their sadness about the unrushed justice for Babita Deokaran.  

The impunity culture has spread to the extent where murder is the resolution to preventing the exposure of corruption in South Africa in all sectors. Being a whistle-blower has become lethal. The injustice of the assassinations of whistle-blowers fuels this culture because the political system does not allow for accountability for the gruesome murders. It is a resolution that permanently shuts down the witnesses to the corruption. 

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Being politically connected in South Africa creates a more complex situation for justice to be served. The assassination of people attempting to protect this nation from corruption expresses the need for more protection and safety for the whistle-blowers of this country. 

Seeing Thia, Babita’s only child, accept the 2021 Blueprint for Free Speech Special Recognition Award on behalf of her mother, touched every person in the room. The fear and trauma this young woman has to live with is agonising, all because her mother stood for honesty. 

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA’s) Ali Gule stands beside Deokaran’s daughter Thia as she receives an award. Johannesburg, 23 August 2022.
Photo: Shiraaz Mohamed.

Babita Deokaran’s sister Sharlene Ramgoolam (right) and Deokaran’s daughter Thia during the ceremony. (Photo: Shiraaz Mohamed)

The impact Babita’s legacy has left on women in South Africa is a boundless one, she has taught all of us to be fearless, hardworking and to stand up for what we think is right. She has taught young women like me that doing the right thing and taking action by ending criminal activity is not an aspect men can only do. Justice has no gender and we should not be afraid to take action into our own hands when it comes to equitableness. 

Although her death is a great tragedy, what she has left behind is something immeasurable. She is a true hero, and we know that heroes never indeed die. Her legacy of dauntlessness and strength will live on forever.  DM