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A MONUMENT honouring slain whistleblower Babita Deokaran will be unveiled in Mount Edgecombe on August 9, nearly five years after her murder shocked the country and highlighted deep-rooted corruption within the public health sector.
Deokaran, a chief accountant at the Gauteng Department of Health, was shot and killed outside her home on August 23 2021.
In the days leading up to her murder, she had raised concerns over irregular payments, kept detailed records exposing the alleged looting of public healthcare funds, and tried to halt R100 million in suspicious payments.
The monument initiative is spearheaded by the Mount Edgecombe Arts and Cultural Council and the Shri Mariammen Temple Society, who said it was important to honour Deokaran in the community where she grew up.
Venashree Naidu, treasurer of the Mount Edgecombe Arts and Cultural Council, said the organisations felt it was important to bring Deokaran “back home”.
“She was a daughter of Mount Edgecombe, and so we felt it fitting to erect a monument to her here in her hometown. She was a national symbol of what ethical public service should look like. Babita Deokaran represented everything that a good, strong, ethical and honest civil service is about. South Africa needs civil servants to be the backbone of a genuine democracy.”
“Her monument must stand as a reminder to all that she is loved for her heroism and that her example still calls on us to stand for what is right,” she said.
Deokaran’s...
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