Winner: Gauteng Department of Health’s Babita Deokaran

Four South Africans are on this year’s international Blueprint for Free Speech awards, which recognise whistle-blowers’ courage to speak out and to expose injustice and wrongdoing. One of them is Babita Deokaran.

The UK-based charity works to uphold Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which asserts the right to freedom of opinion and expression for all people. Blueprint’s recognition of Deokaran’s contribution to exposing deep rot and corruption in the Gauteng Department of Health is the latest salute to the 53-year-old whose assassination on 23 August made her a household name. It also shook up the country to understand how corruption has become a cancer and thrives through a malignant web of people who willingly and knowingly play their role in order for looting and even killing to continue – so long as kickbacks keep coming.   

Deokaran was acting chief financial officer at the Gauteng Department of Health. She was also a key witness in an ongoing Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe into the alleged corrupted procurement tenders of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the department, the province and throughout SA.

Deokaran had worked for the department for 15 years. Her colleagues said after her murder that she not only had the inside track on how dodgy deals are pushed through the various layers of administration by having people who are “cut in” to circumvent expected checks and balances, but that Deokaran, who had oversight powers and access to all financials, was also able to plot the money and paper trail that was on track to implicate the most senior officials and political appointees in the department.

The Gauteng provincial government is believed to have spent about R3-billion on PPE expenditure. Over the past months the SIU has found that government paid grossly inflated prices without question or justification; it also procured PPE that was substandard and therefore potentially unsafe and that some vendors who landed tenders had no history of being able to supply PPE – some didn’t even have business profiles or listings.

The damning findings of the SIU and media investigations have so far shown that even in a time of pandemic – one of the darkest moments for all humanity – there has been no pause in the pillaging of public money.

Days after Deokaran’s murder, six men were arrested for her killing. The six accused were back in the Johannesburg Magistrates’ Court on 9 December.

Deokaran’s killing stands also as a plangent call for the government to stop its lip service, and to make adequate provision to ensure better protection for whistle-blowers and their families, including ensuring that they are not compromised in being able to continue working and earning livelihoods.

Deokaran’s friends and family have set up the Babita Deokaran Memorial Page on Facebook. There are pinned letters of condolence from Parliament, ministers, and numerous foundations. There are also posts of those who miss her as a “sweet, amazing friend”; “a South African hero”; “the pillar of the family”. And on 30 November there were posts for a birthday Deokaran did not get to celebrate. Her heartbroken family member Renu Williams posted: “You are celebrating with angels today and it is something we will never come to terms with.” DM168

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• South African Person of the Year – a person who has had the broadest or most significant impact on the country as a whole.


• Africa Person of the Year – a person who has made an outstanding contribution on the African continent this year.


• International Person of the Year – a person who has had broad international impact or made an outstanding contribution this year.


• South African Villain of the Year – there was no shortage of suggestions in this self-explanatory category…


• International Villain of the Year – as above, but drawn from foreign fields.


• South African Businessperson of the Year – not necessarily the person who made the biggest profit, but someone whose influence went beyond the balance sheets.


• Community Champion of the Year – someone uplifting, defending and representing ordinary South Africans, often against all odds.


• South African Polluter of the Year – individuals and entities which have succeeded in further dirtying our environment this year.


• Our Burning Planet Heroes of the Year – the green warriors fighting for our planet’s survival.


• South African Youth Champion of the Year – young people working to improve the lot of other young people.


• Sportsperson of the Year – a sportsperson whose positive impact has been felt either on or off the field.


• Sports Team of the Year – a team that has stood out from the rest in 2021 either on or off the field.


• Artist of the Year – a hitmaker whose musical or social influence has towered above others.


• Moegoe of the Year – someone whose behaviour perhaps falls short of Villain of the Year, but who has in some way acted idiotically.


• Grinch of the Year – someone who qualifies as a spoilsport or killjoy. – Rebecca Davis/DM168

Zapiro-2021