Silenced was awarded the coveted Taco Kuiper award for investigative journalism in 2023.

Babita Deokaran was a corruption whistle-blower within the Gauteng Department of Health, who was assassinated in a hit-style killing outside her south Johannesburg home in August 2021.

In her role as chief director: financial accounting, Deokaran had been a bulwark against irregular and dubious payments. Owing to her position, she was also in control of the evidentiary paper trail left by those who preyed on public funds, making her an invaluable asset to the Special Investigating Unit.  

A News24 investigation which spanned more than a year – examining in excess of 60 000 e-mails and the contents of her cellphone – can reveal the vivid detail of what was her final graft investigation.

In this series, titled Silenced, we reveal what she found in the days before her murder.

By News24 Investigations

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'Our lives could be in danger: Inside Babita Deokaran's R850m 'fraud' probe

Babita Deokaran tried to stop R100 million in dodgy payments and flagged nearly R850 million in other suspicious transactions at the Gauteng Department of Health just days before she was killed - confiding in colleagues that her last investigation could result in her death.

"...I am just worried that the guys in Tembisa are going to realise we are not releasing their payments and know that we on to something. Our lives could be in danger," Deokaran said in a WhatsApp message to her boss. 

Deokaran - a senior manager at the Gauteng health department - was ambushed by hitmen outside her home in Winchester Hills, south Johannesburg. She was shot nine times while pulling into her driveway after dropping off her daughter at school and later died in hospital. Her murder put an end to a decade of cooperation with the Special Investigating Unit and the Hawks as a critical witness within her department. 

Nearly a year after she was murdered - drawing from a trove of more than 60 000 emails and the contents of her cellphone - News24 can reveal details of her final graft probe.

Babita Deokaran tried to stop ‘secret’ Tembisa Hospital payments to ANC leader

Three little-known companies headed by Gauteng ANC heavyweight Sello Sekhokho scored contracts providing medical supplies and equipment to Tembisa Hospital worth R2.3 million - his windfall flagged as "potentially fraudulent" by Department of Health chief accountant Babita Deokaran just three weeks before she was murdered.   

One firm - Kaizen Projects - is among a network of 217 entities Deokaran identified as part of a flood of transactions out of Tembisa Hospital, her suspicion piqued by a buying spree which shot expenditure in July of 2021 sharply up. In a single month, goods and services for the tertiary hospital accounted for R239 million, 25% more than Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital, which is four times its size.   

The whistleblower reported the splurge to department CFO Lerato Madyo and called for an immediate investigation and a stop on payments worth R104 million. Ten months after she was gunned down in a hit-style killing outside her south Johannesburg home, the payments out of the hospital have yet to be probed in their entirety. 

No investigation, no protection: Inside department head's big lie to Babita Deokaran

Gauteng Health boss Lerato Madyo lied when she told Babita Deokaran that her discovery of R850m in dubious Tembisa Hospital payments had been bumped up the chain of command.

News24 can reveal that it was only on the day of Deokaran's assassination that Madyo mentioned to her superiors, in passing, that the whistleblower was worried her life was in danger after moving to halt payments to a politically connected businessman and hundreds of other companies. 

Beyond this, the report in which Deokaran called for an urgent probe into the hospital's spending patterns was never formally escalated. Madyo received it three weeks before the murder. 

Tembisa Hospital contract factory: R500k on leather loungers and letterbox barons unmasked

Tembisa Hospital bosses splurged R500 000 on 100 leather wingback chairs – this deal just one of a surge of dubious payments flagged by Babita Deokaran before she was assassinated. 

A News24 investigation, drawing from key documents contained in thousands of Deokaran’s emails, can reveal that the East Rand hospital was turned into a contract factory. In four months, it processed more than 1 200 purchase orders worth more than R600 million.

While struggling with overcrowding, staff shortages and a dearth of funding, the hospital channelled nearly R60 million in payments to letterbox companies that exist only on paper. Twenty entities which simultaneously billed the hospital are controlled by four people. Each registered five companies on the same day and provided fake addresses when doing so. 

Love me tender: How husband and wife bagged R30m in Tembisa Hospital contracts

A part-time call centre agent and her sound engineer husband landed Tembisa Hospital contracts worth nearly R30 million in the space of a month - part of a mammoth extraction network uncovered by murdered whistleblower Babita Deokaran.  

Christine and Avikash Signarian each control five companies that saw a flurry of trade from the hospital, contracted to provide everything from ventilators to ICU beds.  

Seventy payments to entities they own are among more than a thousand "possibly fraudulent" transactions flagged by Deokaran three weeks before she was assassinated. Her call for a forensic probe into the hospital’s buying patterns were ignored and payments worth R850 million are yet to be fully examined.  

Under fire Tembisa hospital boss calls on ANC connections over News24 investigation

The Tembisa Hospital CEO, responsible for approving millions of rand in dodgy payments flagged by Babita Deokaran, has roped in his ANC connections because "he is struggling with News24".

This publication was contacted by a member of the ANC’s communications team on Tuesday to set up a meeting with hospital boss Ashley Mthunzi, after Mthunzi asked the convenor of the ANC’s Progressive Business Forum to intercede on his behalf.

The overtures by ANC operatives came despite various requests for comment to Mthunzi on what Deokaran found at Tembisa Hospital. These requests have however gone unanswered.

Tembisa Hospital’s R500 000 skinny jean spending spree... and the soccer star who scored

Tembisa Hospital bosses splurged R500 000 on a shipment of skinny jeans – purchased while South Africa was in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic and just weeks before a third wave strained medical facilities to breaking point.

The payment for 200 pairs of denims - for girls aged between 6 and 7 – was flagged by Babita Deokaran alongside thousands of other transactions out of the East Rand hospital worth more than R850 million. She was assassinated three weeks later.

The jeans contract was awarded to an obscure company named Inez Chaste - one of 10 separate business entities controlled by retired soccer star Themba Shabalala and his wife Evelyn.

'We've heard nothing' from cops - Babita Deokaran's family as SIU investigation moves forward

The family of murdered whistleblower Babita Deokaran has heard "nothing" from the police or investigating officer about the status of the investigation into the mastermind of her assassination. 

"We have heard nothing from them… not once have they called us. The last time we were contacted by the investigating team was right after the incident," Deokaran's brother, Rakesh, said. 

Tembisa Hospital splurge exposed: leather loungers, skinny jeans, and R10 000 for a bucket

Four members of the Mazibuko clan control 17 separate entities that were flagged by whistleblower Babita Deokaran – three weeks before her murder – in a report that raised alarm over R850 million in "possibly fraudulent" payments out of the hospital.

A News24 investigation based on a trove of Gauteng health department e-mails can reveal that the family established a dynasty providing medical equipment and supplies to several health facilities in the province. But it was the Tembisa Hospital supply chain management office that delivered their heyday.


On 8 February 2021, two payments of R19 600 were processed for "bucket heavy duty 12.5l plastic (sic)". The hospital bought two in red and two in blue, and paid nearly 5 000% of the price it should have paid.

Inside ANC bigwig's R15m Tembisa Hospital payday

ANC Ekurhuleni boss Sello Sekhokho sold groceries, office supplies and medical equipment to Tembisa Hospital in a state-business boom worth nearly R15 million in three years. 

Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi - in response to questions posed by the DA's Jack Bloom - last week disclosed three little-known companies controlled by Sekhokho received 55 individual payments routed through the hospital.

Hawks circle over R30m Tembisa Hospital tender twosome

A married couple who scored R30 million in shady Tembisa Hospital payments now face a Hawks fraud investigation for the illegal trade of high-tech medical equipment. 

Four companies controlled by part-time call centre agent Christine Signarian and her sound engineer husband Avikash - who sold everything from electrosurgical pens to ICU beds without a licence – fell into the crosshairs of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra). 

'Don of Tembisa' received millions in payments, bought Bantry Bay and Sandton mansions

Babita Deokaran red-flagged R36 million in Tembisa Hospital payments bound for companies linked to Hangwani Morgan Maumela, a high-flying tender tycoon whose property portfolio stretches from Bantry Bay to Sandton.  

Twelve firms in his family network are among hundreds behind a dubious R850-million hospital buying spree that Deokaran reported to Gauteng health department bosses. She raised fears that stopping payments could place her life in danger. She was assassinated three weeks later.   

Impeccable sources inside the health department described Maumela as "the don" of Tembisa Hospital, who held sway with management and had direct access to its procurement office.

Inside the 'confidential' Tembisa Hospital audit which was buried after Deokaran hit

A Gauteng health department audit of Tembisa Hospital launched after Babita Deokaran red-flagged R850 million in dodgy payments was buried for more than a year - and recommendations for an urgent investigation were abandoned. 

Internal auditors found that hospital officials corrupted the procurement system and tampered with documents in order to channel contracts worth millions to companies which had been hand-picked to score big.

According to the confidential report filed in September last year, obtained by News24, auditors tested a random sample of just 18 individual payments – of 1 203 identified by Deokaran before her murder – and found that all were irregular. 

The Tembisa tender 'don' and his cosy ties to Ramaphosa and key advisor

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s nephew by marriage – tender "don" Hangwani Morgan Maumela – is a central figure in the R850-million Tembisa Hospital procurement scandal first reported by Babita Deokaran before she was assassinated.

Through a web of companies, Maumela and his cousin scored R36 million in trade from the East Rand hospital in a period spanning only weeks – the transactions among more than a thousand now under investigation by Special Investigating Unit (SIU).  

News24 can also reveal that the businessman’s links to the Union Buildings run deeper, with ties to Ramaphosa’s right-hand - principal political advisor Bejani Chauke. The pair are essentially neighbours in a plush Hyde Park security complex within walking distance of Ramaphosa’s private residence.  

Camps Bay to Zimbali: Inside Tembisa tender don’s R280m property bonanza

A family trust controlled by Tembisa tender "don" Hangwani Morgan Maumela snapped up palatial homes across the country – amassing a R280-million property portfolio, that spans from Zimbali to Camps Bay, in the space of five years, News24 can reveal.  

Maumela and a relative, through a network of twelve companies, banked R380 million in contracts for the supply of everything from décor to medical gear from the Gauteng health department since 2019.

Ten percent of these payments were red flagged by Babita Deokaran in a report into "possibly fraudulent" transactions out of Tembisa Hospital three weeks before she was murdered. 

The 39-year-old businessman has ties that stretch to the Union Buildings - as a distant relative by marriage to President Cyril Ramaphosa, and neighbour and associate to his principal political advisor, Bejani Chauke.

How Tembisa Hospital’s R500k skinny jean supplier and shell corporation bosses flew the coop

The company behind the R500 000 Tembisa Hospital skinny jeans scandal has a new owner – a man who overnight become the controlling hand of 54 entities red-flagged by Babita Deokaran before her assassination.  

Dr Stefan Joel Govindraju now directs the group of companies which saw R116 million in dubious trade from the hospital, his conglomerate accounting for nearly a quarter of the 217 "possibly fraudulent" entities unearthed by the whistleblower. 

In two days, company directors resigned en masse, and ceded control to him. The companies – shell corporations that used false addresses and exist only on paper - form part of an extraction network that scored hundreds of contracts from the East Rand health facility, providing everything from luxury leather furniture to ventilators.   

Mother of Tembisa tender ‘don’ scores R30m Sea Point property as tenderpreneur network expands

Mboneni Maumela – a retiree and elderly mother of Tembisa Hospital tender tycoon Hangwani Morgan Maumela – splurged R30 million on two Sea Point flats, pushing up the value of the family’s property portfolio north of R310 million.  

On the same day in March this year, the 66-year-old became the owner of units 49 and 133 in the luxury Twin Towers block, with views of the Atlantic seaboard and flanked by the Sea Point promenade. Each unit cost R14.5 million, according to deeds office records.  

While the source of her wealth remains unknown, the former civil servant appears to be backed by her son who, along with his cousin Aluwani Maumela, raked in R381 million in contracts from Gauteng state hospitals in three years, with 93% of their heyday coming from Tembisa.  

From boerewors to bandages: Inside ANC leader's R100 million health tender jackpot

Three little-known companies owned by ANC Ekurhuleni treasurer-general Sello Sekhokho have scored nearly R100 million in Gauteng health department contracts in three years, supplying everything from boerewors to bandages. 

Kaizen Projects, Nokokhokho, and Bollanoto Security were among hundreds of Tembisa Hospital suppliers Babita Deokaran flagged three weeks before her assassination – and a News24 investigation first identified a string of deals worth R2.3 million pushed his way. 

Babita Deokaran flagged network of lovers, friends and co-workers 'fleecing' public purse

New Tembisa Hospital tender don Stefan Govindraju – who took control of an empire of companies which scored R116 million in deals red-flagged by Babita Deokaran – has longstanding links to an extraction network that saw bank tellers, call-centre agents and sound technicians become overnight millionaires.

After News24 exposed the hospital tender mafia, company directors inexplicably resigned en masse and ceded control to Govindraju. His takeover played out in less than 48 hours.  

News24 can now reveal Govindraju’s connection to the companies - behind a flood of unregulated medical equipment sold to the hospital - as the final link in a chain of lovers, relatives, friends, and co-workers. 

SIU unravels R1 billion Tembisa tender syndicates

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) recommended Tembisa Hospital tender kingpins Hangwani Maumela and Stefan Govindraju – whose companies landed contracts worth R775 million in less than two years - face prosecution for fraud.

A preliminary SIU report released on Tuesday found that networks of shell corporations banked more than R1 billion in dubious payments from the impoverished hospital. These syndicates and those behind them were first exposed by News24 in a series titled Silenced. 

Investigators uncovered evidence that Maumela and Govindraju, through companies they controlled, in some cases, provided fake documents to the Gauteng Department of Health which paved the way for a flood of payments.

Tembisa Hospital's R500 000 chicken tender, and how the inside men feathered the nest

Tembisa Hospital splurged R500 000 on six tons of frozen chicken in a deal tainted by irregularities, false documents and price inflation. This payment is one of hundreds now in the crosshairs of the Special Investigating Unit.

The graft-busting squad found that hospital officials flouted buying processes, a key enabler for a tender mafia first identified by Babita Deokaran three weeks before she was assassinated.

Those officials who swung dicey contracts are still at work, and some are still in charge of procurement. 

The contract was awarded to an unknown company named Fairg Holdings, which operates from a rundown house in suburban Benoni on the East Rand.  

SIU investigators concluded that falsified and altered documents were overlooked in order to close the deal - with a price nearly double what it should have been. 

Tembisa tender tycoon, his 'mama cat', and their brazen blue-light brigade

Tembisa Hospital tender tycoon Vusimuzi Matlala – whose companies scored nearly R5 million in contracts red-flagged by Babita Deokaran – is now under investigation for his illegal blue-light cavalcade used for airport trips and school runs.  

Matlala’s partner Cordelia Kabeng, calling herself "mama cat", boasted to her 12 000 Instagram followers about her high-speed escorts, replete with lights and sirens, to drop off her "cubs".  

Matlala has close ties to Hangwani Morgan Maumela, the central node in an extraction syndicate of little-known companies and opaque trusts which saw R23 million in dicey payments channelled their way. 

Tembisa tender mafia: Syndicates expand, and look to other hospital feeding troughs

Front company kingpin Stefan Govindraju - who controls a tender extraction network which bled R440 million from Tembisa Hospital - has been linked to more shady state suppliers, with worrying signals that the contract feeding frenzy stretches into other hospitals. 

Five of his companies, outside of 217 "possibly fraudulent" entities red-flagged by Babita Deokaran before her assassination, are now under investigation by the Gauteng Department of Health after irregularities were discovered in the way they operate. 

'Are u ok?' Crucial Tembisa Hospital corruption evidence stolen

Suspended Gauteng health department boss Lerato Madyo’s cellphone – a critical piece of evidence in a R850-million fraud and corruption probe into Tembisa Hospital – was stolen before cops could analyse it. 

The phone – with its record of a WhatsApp chat between Madyo and whistleblower Babita Deokaran – was reported stolen in March last year. 

In the weeks before she was murdered, Deokaran briefed Madyo about her concerns over Tembisa Hospital spending, fears that her life was in danger, and misgivings surrounding lucrative contracts scored by an ANC politician, according to a history of near-daily conversations, obtained by News24. 

'They took my phone': Hawks raid ANC bigwig in R1bn Tembisa corruption scandal

Flashy ANC boss Sello Sekhokho and his fleet of companies - that scored nearly R100 million in shady contracts from Gauteng hospitals in just three years – are in the crosshairs of a R1-billion Tembisa Hospital fraud and corruption probe.

Early on Wednesday morning, Hawks detectives swooped on Sekhokho's home and two properties from which he runs his business empire, seizing documents, computers and cellphones.

A company named Kaizen Projects – controlled by the 37-year-old politician – was among the first of 217 entities redflagged by whistleblower Babita Deokaran, after she noticed a surge in spending out of Tembisa Hospital. Three weeks after she reported concerns over the legitimacy of the company and others, she was assassinated outside her home.

R250m Tembisa Hospital extraction syndicate is still scoring tenders

A company that forms part of the extraction syndicate which banked R250 million in shady Tembisa Hospital contracts, was paid nearly R1 million by the Gauteng Department of Health – after it was red-flagged by the Special Investigating Unit. 

The little-known company called Minzorex scored two contracts from Edenvale Hospital and was paid R985 100 in two transactions – the last lump sum landing in the firm's bank account in January.  

The big score: Tembisa tender kings 'inflated' prices for embattled hospital by up to 2 000%

Gauteng Department of Health boss Lerato Madyo and Tembisa Hospital CEO Ashley Mthunzi signed off on medical supply contracts with grossly inflated prices, overlooking a litany of discrepancies, including forged documents.

In one instance, the price of surgical drapes was gouged by nearly 2 000%.

Last month, the pair were each charged with misconduct during internal disciplinary action arising from 13 transactions they approved, among more than a thousand dubious payments flagged by provincial financial manager Babita Deokaran before her murder. They both now face dismissal if found guilty.

Now nearly 900 pages of documentary evidence, which underpins misconduct allegations, have been filed in the disciplinary inquiry. This trove of bid documents, quotes and purchase orders reveal how easily supply chain management prescripts were flouted and bypassed, and how prices soared.

'Fraud', 'forgery' and Tembisa tender kingpin's 300% markup: This is how he did it

Three companies with secret ties to front company kingpin Stefan Govindraju bid against one another for a lucrative Tembisa Hospital deal - the tainted contract now linked to a R440-million tender extraction syndicate.

This deal saw Tembisa Hospital pay 300% more than they should have for sutures, News24 can reveal. 

In another, a company linked to Govindraju submitted forged documents which allowed them to win a supply contract for ventilator parts worth R496 000. These dubious transactions are among thousands of payments flagged by Babita Deokaran just weeks before she was assassinated outside her home.

'I know nothing': How a pool cleaner, unemployed guard were used to 'cook' Tembisa tenders

Two Limpopo women, one a municipal worker and the other an unemployed security guard, became unwitting bedfellows when their "stolen" identities were used in a scheme to rig a lucrative Tembisa Hospital contract, News24 can reveal.    

Raesibe Motebejano spends her days cleaning the Polokwane Municipality's public swimming pools. The 44-year-old's signature also appears on bid documents for an entity called Black AK Trading and Suppliers, which tendered for a supplier contract from the East Rand Hospital.

Tembisa tender 'don's' luxury properties flash sale and the realtors who kept it 'secret'

Tembisa Hospital tender "don" Hangwani Morgan Maumela is selling off chunks of his R280 million property portfolio in a hurry – and a boutique real estate agency has seemingly helped him avoid the prying eyes of the Special Investigating Unit. 

Maumela – President Cyril Ramaphosa's nephew from a previous marriage – was named by the SIU as a central figure in a R1 billion extraction scheme at the healthcare facility. A network of companies tied to Maumela and hundreds of payments from Tembisa Hospital were first discovered by Babita Deokaran before she was assassinated in August 2021. 

News24 can reveal that in one property deal, the R14 million sale of a Hurlingham mansion in April, Live Real Estate and agents Brendan Miller and Jacqui Steinmann allegedly knew that Maumela was under investigation by the SIU – and pushed the sale in secret. 

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