WeeklySA_AdminMOTIVE NOT CLEAR:SIU welcomes arrests and says they have put measures in place to protect whistleblowers
The murder of chief director financial accounting in the department of health Babita Deokaran should not deter South Africans and public servants from reporting allegations of corruption, malpractice, greed and maladministration in the affairs government departments, municipalities and State Owned Entities.
This was said by Special Investigating Unit spokesman Kaizer Kanyago, who added that it is through the reporting of procurement irregularities and corruption in the public sector that we can protect the public purse and ensure that public purse serves the interest of the public.
Ms Deokaran was killed when a gunman fired several shots into her car after she had dropped off her child at school in the south of Jozi, on Monday.
On Thursday, as Deokaran’s family laid her to rest in KwaZulu-Natal, various civil groups and those who knew her gathered at the Mary Fitzgerald Square in Johannesburg for a candlelight vigil in her honour.
Makhura was one of the speakers at the vigil. Makhura has said that there is a link between the murder of Deokaran, the Department of and those facing charges of PPE tender fraud.
She was one of the more than 320 witnesses in the ongoing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) tender corruption and procurement irregularities.
Following her murder outside her home on Monday, a special task team was set up to investigate resulting in the arrest of the seven Friday.
Kganyago, however, could not “at this stage” link or associate the murder of Ms Doekaran with the ongoing PPE investigations.
He said the SIU will allow the SAPS to get to the bottom of this, and also insisting the murder of Ms Deokaran will not affect or compromise the ongoing PPE investigation in the Gauteng Department of Health.
Kganyago said the SIU has put measures in place to ensure safety of witnesses and whistleblowers and that the SIU encourage witnesses to come forward and inform SIU investigators should they feel unsafe or should there be any threat to them so that steps can be taken to protect them including invoking the Witness Protection Program that Government has in place.
Internally, the SIU is assessing and considering further measures that will be put in place to secure the SIU investigators over and above the measures that are already in place with the SAPS, he said.
