Hawks hot on heels of more suspects behind Deokaran execution
THE Hawks are hot on the heels of more suspects behind the execution of Gauteng health official Babita Deokaran.
Yesterday, six men briefly appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court in connection with the hit-like killing that shocked the country last week.
Deokaran was ambushed and gunned down outside her Winchester Hills, Joburg south, home last Monday. She had reportedly just returned from dropping her child off at school.
Her killing is suspected to be linked to her role in the investigation into dodgy personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts in Gauteng. She was reportedly a key witness.
It emerged over the weekend that police had cracked the case and arrested seven male suspects. It became apparent in court yesterday that six men had actually been arrested.
They are Phakamani Hadebe, Zitha Hadebe, Sanele Mbele, Nhlangano Ndlovu, Siphiwe Mazibuko and Phakanyiswa Dladla.
They appeared calm in the dock yesterday. The matter was postponed to September 13 for their formal bail application.
The men face charges of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and possession of unlicensed arms and ammunition.
After the brief proceedings, Joburg spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Phindi Mjonondwane, told reporters the seventh man was released because there was nothing linking him to Deokaran’s killing.
He was only found in the company of one of the accused.
“Charges are not provisionally withdrawn. He was not charged at all because currently we don’t have any evidence that suggests that he is linked to the alleged crime,” Mjonondwane said.
Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu, spokesperson for the Hawks in Gauteng, said more arrests were expected in the case.
“We still have outstanding suspects that we are looking into. There’s intelligence that we’re working with and we’re following up on that information,” said Mulamu.
“We can confirm that more arrests are imminent, actually.”
She would not specify when these suspects could be arrested.
“The time frame is very important, but we cannot say within the next 24 hours the suspects would have been brought into detention.
“But we are very much sure that … all the suspects will be brought to book.”
She revealed that none of the six facing charges were government officials.
“None of the suspects who appeared in court this morning are Department of Health officials.”
There were indications that the six accused were izinkabi, a term that can be loosely translated to hitmen.
Izinkabi are men largely hired in Kwazulu-natal to execute targets anywhere in the country.
“All the suspects are from KZN and they were all arrested in KZN,” Mulamu said.
While there were reports that one of the men had confessed, Mjonondwane would not be drawn to comment on that.
“Evidence will be led in court. The media and the public will have more information (on the alleged confession) once the matter is ventilated in court,” Mjonondwane said.
“We cannot now start revealing the kind of evidence that the State has. We’re not yet at that stage. More of those details will be revealed in court in due time.”