Just minutes after #BabitaDeokaran was riddled with bullets, her boss, Lerato Madyo, sent her a seemingly prescient Whatsapp message: "Are u ok?????!!!!"
A thread 🧵
A thread 🧵
This message - with its tenor and drastic punctuation - cannot be viewed in isolation. @News24 has plotted a timeline of e-mails, chats and phone calls between Deokaran and Madyo.
news24.com/news24/investi…
news24.com/news24/investi…
Thousands of @GautengHealth e-mails and the contents of Deokaran's cellphone tell a story.
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.
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.
Deokaran first notified Madyo when she emailed an official report, a summation of her surface-level investigation, exactly 19 days before she was murdered. Here's the cover of the report and a copy of the e-mail. 
Madyo, as @GautengHealth CFO, was Deokaran's direct reporting line. The whistleblower had gone to her with concerns that @TembisaHospital was processing thousands of transactions - the lion's share steered to "illegitimate" companies.
She called for an urgent investigation.
She called for an urgent investigation.
A week after sending Madyo the report, Deokaran told her that stopping payments to "the Tembisa guys" may place her life in danger.
Madyo said she had requested authorisation for a probe. This was a lie.
news24.com/news24/investi…
Madyo said she had requested authorisation for a probe. This was a lie.
news24.com/news24/investi…
Instead of dissecting R600m in dubious payments and hundreds of companies banking millions, Madyo ordered a random audit of hospitals in the provincial network.
@TembisaHospital was part of this. Of 1203 transactions Deokaran red-flagged, auditors examined 18.
Lo and behold, all were found to be irregular. Auditors wrote: "All quotations approved are just below R500 000, and it is recommended that this be investigated urgently."
Lo and behold, all were found to be irregular. Auditors wrote: "All quotations approved are just below R500 000, and it is recommended that this be investigated urgently."
No action was taken against officials. Deokaran's report and the one that followed were buried. The money kept flowing.
We found records that Deokaran questioned payments to a company owned by ANC Ekurhuleni boss Sello Sekhokho.
Madyo asked her to keep it quiet. Why?
We found records that Deokaran questioned payments to a company owned by ANC Ekurhuleni boss Sello Sekhokho.
Madyo asked her to keep it quiet. Why?
In an e-mail to a colleague, Deokaran made it plain that Madyo had instructed her to pay Sekhokho's company, despite her misgivings.
See for yourselves.
See for yourselves.
On the day Deokaran was assassinated, we were able to plot her final moments alive.
09:07 Madyo tries to call Deokaran with no answer.
09:08 she fires off the Whatsapp: "Are u ok?????!!!!"
It seems like she was concerned.
09:07 Madyo tries to call Deokaran with no answer.
09:08 she fires off the Whatsapp: "Are u ok?????!!!!"
It seems like she was concerned.
Of course, there may be an explanation for this message. We asked Madyo, through her lawyer, to walk us through it. She did not respond.
Madyo is now a central figure in a Hawks fraud and corruption investigation and an @RSASIU probe.
When the Hawks seized her laptop, they also wanted her cell phone. Only then did they find out Madyo had reported it stolen months prior.
When the Hawks seized her laptop, they also wanted her cell phone. Only then did they find out Madyo had reported it stolen months prior.
The phone - of crucial evidentiary value - was lost before the police could analyse it.
It's a travesty that a police investigation took so long to get off the ground. It only began after @News24 began publishing stories about what Deokaran found.
specialprojects.news24.com/silenced/index…
It's a travesty that a police investigation took so long to get off the ground. It only began after @News24 began publishing stories about what Deokaran found.
specialprojects.news24.com/silenced/index…
The extraction syndicates operating at the hospital are, frankly, immense. A preliminary @RSASIU report tracked more than R1 billion in tainted payments, what they called the tip of the iceberg.
These are the entities and the payments flagged by #BabitaDeokaran from @TembisaHospital . We have already proven that they were operating in at least five other @GautengHealth facilities.
Listen to our live audio cast on this story:
Live from News24, 13 Mar Please call me: What stolen evidence could tell us about Babita Deokaran’s murder · News24 On Air - iono.fm iono.fm/e/1289559
Live from News24, 13 Mar Please call me: What stolen evidence could tell us about Babita Deokaran’s murder · News24 On Air - iono.fm iono.fm/e/1289559
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