The high court in Johannesburg has postponed the murder case of whistleblower Babita Deokaran to August 15 after one of the accused lawyers failed to arrive in court on Monday.
Deokanran, a high-ranking official in the department of health in Gauteng, was shot through the window of her vehicle at the entrance to her Winchester Hills home in Johannesburg south in August 2021.
She had just dropped off her daughter at school when she came under attack from a group of unknown men who then sped off after the assassination.
It has since emerged that in the run-up to her murder, Deokaran had flagged R850-million worth of suspicious payments which were taking place at Tembisa Hospital.
Phakamani Hadebe, Zitha Radebe, Sanele Mbhele, Siphiwe Mazibuko, Siphakanyiswa Dladla, and Nhlangano Ndlovu, all believed to be from KwaZulu-Natal, are in the dock.
They face charges of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.
During a commemoration of her death in August a year ago, her brother in-law Tony Haripersad told Sunday World that the late whistleblower did not die in vain.
“Babita may have been silenced but her courage to speak out against corruption speaks volumes,” said Haripersad.
“She was a person who was hands-on and she did her job to prevent the rot of corruption from happening in our country. We believe that justice will prevail.”
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