SILENCED FOR A LIFE OF LUXURY

LAMBORGHINIS, Porsches, Ferraris, multi-million-rand properties, boats, works of art – it seems the greed knew no bounds. While patients lay dying at Tembisa Hospital, this was how the money that was meant to be used for their care was spent.

- PECULIA MUSHWANA

South Africans were sickened to see the images of grotesque luxury that emerged as the Special Investigating Unit conducted raids and seized the assets of one of the biggest kingpins behind a campaign to bleed the hospital dry.

It's taken four years, but at last the wheels of justice are turning and real steps are being taken to recoup the more than R2 billion that was brazenly looted.

And it might never have happened had it not been for Babita Deokaran, a brave whistleblower who sounded the alarm about the corruption poisoning the Gauteng Department of Health.

She paid the ultimate price – Babita (53) was killed in a hail of bullets outside her home in Mondeor, Johannesburg in August 2021 to ensure her silence so the masterminds behind the sophisticated network of fraud could continue enjoying the spoils of their plunder.

With her name back in the news as the extent of the looting is laid bare, her family are feeling mixed emotions. “We’re proud that Babita’s name continues to stand for honesty and courage, but it’s also a painful reminder of what we lost,” her brother Rakesh Deokaran (52) says.

Like many South Africans, he’s staggered by the shamelessly wasteful way in which the stolen millions were spent. When the Special Investigating Unit raided the R70 million Sandhurst mansion of controversial businessman Hangwani Maumela, who was arrested in September, they uncovered a fully equipped home salon, massage parlour, hotel-style interiors and seven luxury vehicles: a Rolls-Royce, two Aston Martins, a Ferrari and three Lamborghinis, estimated to be worth R60m.