Police Minister Bheki Cele confirmed that two more people have been arrested in connection with the murder of whistle-blower Babita Deokaran. She was gunned down last week outside her home in Winchester Hills, south of Johannesburg.
Cele visited Umlazi, South of Durban, where 11 people were killed in two separate incidents in the last week.
Babita Deokaran was a key witness in the Special Investigating Unit’s probe into Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) corruption at the Gauteng Health Department.
On Monday, six suspects appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court in connection with her murder. Their case was postponed to the 13th of September.
The Police Minister confirmed that two more suspects have been arrested in connection with Deokaran’s murder.
“It looks like the investigation is going well. Two more people have been arrested with two cars and one firearm.”
He further revealed that the suspects were found with a large amount of money.
“But interestingly they have been arrested with a lot of cash in their cars. So the story is that it was a very expensive exercise where people were getting a lot of money each to pull the mission off for killing Babita.”
Government has sent a stern message that the protection of whistle-blowers is non-negotiable:
The minister also gave an update on investigations into the killings in Phoenix during the July unrest. Over 350 people lost their lives during civil unrest and looting in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
“Investigations are continuing. Police have really increased their arrests there. Minus, plus 53/56 people that were arrested there. 56. They will be appearing in court. It looks like there were people there that were committing quite heinous crimes. One person is linked to six murders in Phoenix. So we, we got this information as people appear in court.”
