Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za
4-minute read | 25 August 2025 | 14:10 CAT

📸The Shadow State, Jeff Wicks’ explosive new book, uncovers the corruption and systemic failures that led to whistleblower Babita Deokaran’s assassination.

Urgent calls for justice continue to echo four years after the assassination of Gauteng health official and whistleblower, Babita Deokaran, whose bravery in exposing large-scale corruption at Tembisa Hospital ultimately cost her life.

Deokaran, a senior official in the Gauteng Department of Health, was shot 12 times outside her home in August 2021, an execution-style killing that Crime Reporter Jeff Wicks describes as “most clearly a hit.” His new book, The Shadow State: Why Babita Deokaran Had to Die, tracks the unanswered questions behind her murder and the staggering corruption she tried to stop.

Speaking to Radio Islam International, Wicks explained: “It was entirely possible that she was killed for doing her work. Weeks before she died, she flagged suspicious payments at Tembisa Hospital, a single 10-page document that set out her concerns. That report is likely the reason why she had to die.”

Through his investigation with News24, Wicks uncovered a trail of payments exceeding R850 million in dubious spending. He says, “The breadcrumbs were there for the police to follow, and they simply didn’t. That is an insult to Babita’s memory and sacrifice.”

Despite the arrest of hitmen, the masterminds behind the assassination remain untouched. “That police investigation died on the 30th of August 2021, when the hitmen were in custody. There was very little attempt to trace back to the person who actually paid money for this hit,” Wicks noted.

The book goes further, exposing systemic rot across the Gauteng Department of Health. According to Wicks, the scandal is “much bigger than any of us think. The true scale of this thing is yet to reveal itself.”

Shocking revelations by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) recently identified at least 111 officials linked to the syndicates looting public health funds. Yet no prosecutions have followed. “If it was one health official, you could almost understand. But to have more than 100 involved. In a just society, the Gauteng MEC for Health would resign in shame. But she will not,” Wicks said.

Deokaran’s sacrifice, he insists, should not be forgotten: “I hope the book honours her memory. She was left unprotected, a lamb to the slaughter. Meaningful reforms in procurement and policing must follow, otherwise, her death counts for nothing.”

As South Africa reflects on the chilling silencing of a whistleblower, the question remains whether justice will ever be served, and whether the rot within public institutions can truly be dismantled.

Listen to the full interview on Sabahul Muslim with Moulana Sulaimaan Ravat and Jeff Wicks.