Thread by @wicks_jeff

We have been investigating the death of #BabitaDeokaran for more than a year. We have exposed the Tembisa Hospital as a contract factory - beset by an extraction network of fake companies. A 🧵of what we have found.

Three weeks before she was murdered, Deokaran reported a list of 217 entities she worried were fraudulent. She died before she could take her probe further, and @GautengHealth seemed happy to ignore what she found.

This was a long list, but it quickly became apparent that 54 entities were actually controlled by a handful of people. These "businesses" used fake addresses and existed only on paper. They all scored millions at the same time.

Washed-up soccer star Themba Shabalala and his wife Evelyn scored R15m in contracts in a matter of weeks - including delivering R500k's worth of children's skinny jeans. I would also smile if I got rich overnight.

We found it strange that their ten companies were formed on the same day - that's not how things work in the business world. But they were successful, and Tembisa Hospital thought of them as reliable suppliers.

This happy couple is just one part of a network. We found eleven examples of a pattern: an individual in control of five entities, all formed on the same day, would bank millions from a flood of business in the space of weeks, with no discernible links.

Another happy couple - they scored R30m in a matter of weeks. One of their so-called "businesses" was a condemned building. Another was a home for mentally challenged adults. Again, this is suspicious.

The pattern repeated itself. Sydney Thindelo lucked out and scored R20m. Companies all established in one day. They had fake addresses and no offices, but they had working bank accounts that were filled with cash meant to keep a government hospital afloat.

I could go on. In total, 54 companies were controlled by less than ten people, and their bank accounts swelled. The way they operated seemed stencilled - as if coordinated - with the singular purpose of extracting cash. Look how little effort they put into their e-mail addresses.

Piles of red flags aside, these were obviously very successful business people. But after we started writing about them, something very strange happened. In 48 hours, they all abandoned their businesses.

They ceded control to one man, Dr Stefan Govindraju. We asked him how this came to be, and we wanted to know about his ties to all of these successful tenderpreneurs. Answering questions made him uncomfortable.

To us, it looks like these "business people" are running - and we wonder why if they were at the helm of legitimate, law-abiding entities. The full story is here:
news24.com/news24/investi…

We are taking a long hard look at the new Tembisa business baron - and others who landed lucrative contracts from a hospital that battles equipment shortages and a lack of resources.

We are dropping more stories in this series in the days to come. We intend to finish the job that #BabitaDeokaran started. All the stories in our Silenced series are here:
news24.com/news24/investi…

FREE TO READ TODAY: News24's groundbreaking report on the Tembisa Hospital contract factory Babita Deokaran was about to expose days before she was murdered 👇

specialprojects.news24.com/silenced/index…