Silenced – Why Babita Deokaran was murdered

News24 | Silenced Documentary Trailer

Silenced was awarded the coveted Taco Kuiper award for investigative journalism in 2023.

Babita Deokaran was a corruption whistle-blower within the Gauteng Department of Health, who was assassinated in a hit-style killing outside her south Johannesburg home in August 2021.

In her role as chief director: financial accounting, Deokaran had been a bulwark against irregular and dubious payments. Owing to her position, she was also in control of the evidentiary paper trail left by those who preyed on public funds, making her an invaluable asset to the Special Investigating Unit.

A News24 investigation which spanned more than a year – examining in excess of 60 000 e-mails and the contents of her cellphone – can reveal the vivid detail of what was her final graft investigation.

In this series, titled Silenced, we reveal what she found in the days before her murder.

Watch the trailer here.