Masemola: ‘I don’t believe I failed Babita’

Masemola appeared before Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee investigating corruption and criminal networks within the South African Police Service on Friday, where he faced questions from ActionSA MP Dereleen James about the police’s failure to protect whistleblowers.

Deokaran, who served as chief director of financial accounting at the Gauteng Department of Health, had flagged hundreds of millions of rands in suspicious payments linked to Tembisa Hospital shortly before her death.

 Her warnings have since uncovered what has ballooned into one of South Africa’s largest corruption scandals.

Recently, a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) interim report revealed that more than R2 billion was looted from Tembisa Hospital through fraudulent procurement schemes. 

Despite the conviction of six men for carrying out the assassination, the masterminds behind Deokaran’s killing remain at large.

During the tense exchange, James questioned Masemola on whether the police failed to safeguard Deokaran and other whistleblowers.

"In a system where whistleblowers are not adequately protected, whistleblowers such as Babita, do you believe that you have failed Babita?” she asked.

Masemola responded firmly: "No, I don’t believe I failed her. I only learned after her death that she was a whistleblower.”

James went further, pressing the commissioner on the capacity of South Africa’s intelligence structures to prevent such crimes.

"How strong is your intelligence in this country? Intelligence is supposed to pick up on crime that is brewing before it happens. That’s the purpose, to gather information,” she said.

Masemola defended the intelligence community, saying while they perform their duties, it would not have been possible for them to predict Deokaran’s murder.

"The intelligence, they are doing their work. But of course, intelligence would not know what a whistleblower is going to say, probably. They won’t know that,” he replied.

Pressed again on whether intelligence had any prior information about the hit on Deokaran, Masemola admitted he did not know the finer details of the investigation.

"Obviously, I don’t know the intricacies and the details of that case,” he said.

When asked what SAPS had put in place since Deokaran’s murder to ensure better protection for whistleblowers, Masemola said legislative work was under way.

"There is legislation that is on its way to Parliament now by the Department of Justice around whistleblowers. From our side, if there are whistleblowers within the organisation or elsewhere, we do provide whatever assistance we can,” he said.

He conceded, however, that there is currently no comprehensive system for the protection of whistleblowers.

"Currently, by and large, there is no real mechanism for the protection of whistleblowers,” he said.

James responded emotionally, saying the public’s trust in law enforcement has been severely eroded, and that whistleblowers are reluctant to come forward because authorities themselves have become compromised.

"I think right now authorities have been compromised. Authorities, they are the criminals based on where we’re sitting. So we cannot go to authorities. How do we protect whistleblowers if the very institutions meant to protect them are failing?” she asked.

Masemola maintained that SAPS has acted against criminality and corruption, particularly around the Tembisa Hospital scandal.

"Through you, Honourable Chair, we should at least take pride that that which they intended, that it happened, it didn’t happen. We were able to stop it. We are investigating. We arrested people, they are in court, and we even discovered more,” he said.

He confirmed that investigations have extended to controversial businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, believed to be connected to fraudulent transactions at Tembisa Hospital.

"We discovered 18 more cases that were lying all over, and they have been brought forward. They are being investigated, and those involved will face those cases,” Masemola said.

James also raised broader questions about the uneven policing response to different types of violent crime in South Africa. 

She drew comparisons between the political killings task team in KwaZulu-Natal, which has been made permanent, and the ongoing violence on the Cape Flats, which continues to claim lives at alarming rates.

"Do you not believe that the people from the Cape Flats deserve an operation like the political killings task team, since the numbers there triple those of political killings? The killings have been ongoing for three decades,” she asked.

Masemola did not directly respond to whether such a specialised team should be established for the Western Cape, but emphasised that ongoing investigations into organised crime are continuing.

When asked whether Police Minister Bheki Cele should be arrested, a question stemming from allegations that he interfered with certain investigations, Masemola declined to comment.

"I can’t express an opinion on that. There is a case that has been investigated. One cannot comment on cases that are still under investigation,” he said.

As Parliament’s inquiry continues, the unresolved questions surrounding Babita Deokaran’s murder, and the protection of whistleblowers who risk their lives to expose corruption, remain central to the broader debate on accountability and reform within the SAPS.

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