Nanda Soobben, second from left, handed over a portrait of whistleblower Babita Deokaran to her family at the event. Deokaran was killed last year. Picture: Khaya Ngwenya/African News Agency (ANA)
Durban — Unknowingly internationally acclaimed cartoonist Nanda Soobben handed over a painting of whistleblower Babita Deokaran three days before the Hawks would raid Tembisa Hospital.
Soobben handed over the painting to her family at the 1860 Heritage Centre on Saturday, December 10, 2022.
Speaking to the Daily News, Soobben said he painted Deokaran because the incident surrounding her was very close to what he has been doing as a political cartoonist and he had also been attacked.
Soobben said he had an art school and it was shut down and he also had his windows shot.
“So when she was killed, it was very close to what I felt and so I did that painting and wanted to highlight the situation without talking about my story but show that people are against what is happening about the corruption,” Soobben said.
Next to the painting of Deokaran is a quote, “You blow that whistle because of morality and integrity… You lost that breath because of a lack of it”.
Speaking about the quote, Soobben said he thought about it, it was his quote and it came off the cuff.
He added that he does a lot of quotes too.
Soobben said it took him about two days to make the painting and initially, he was supposed to hand it over a few months ago but he was asked to wait until the human rights celebration over the weekend.
Captioning a picture of him and Deokaran’s family during the handover of the painting, Soobben said: “There were lots of tears when I presented the painting of Babita Deokaran to her family at the 1860 Heritage Centre on Saturday.”
He said it was an event with all the human rights activists, Amnesty International and Active Citizens Movement. They were all there. It was the human rights celebration throughout the world on that day, December 10.
“There were other whistleblowers there but I did not know all of them. It was also good to meet them and to see people like that. To know that people like that exist in this country because there’s so much corruption, you don’t know who’s honest,” Soobben said.
He added that it was a coincidence that he handed over the painting days before the Hawks raided Tembisa Hospital.
Sister publication Sunday Tribune reported that a rallying cry has been made for the protection of all whistleblowers, be they employees, independent contractors, or regular citizens who were brave enough to expose corrupt individuals and those who violate the human rights of others.
This was the theme of an Anti-Corruption and International Humans Rights Day event hosted on Saturday, December 10, 2022, at the 1860 Heritage Centre in Durban by the Active Citizens Movement and Amnesty International.
Sister publication The Star reported that Gauteng Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale said the operation springs from an inquiry into allegations of fraud and corruption at the hospital, which were also flagged by slain whistleblower Babita Deokaran, who was gunned down in August 2021.
Mogale said that a search and seizure operation was conducted by the Gauteng Hawks Serious Corruption Investigation based on information received of irregular contracts awarded by Supply Chain Management at Tembisa Tertiary Hospital to 217 service providers.
She said that the search and seizure operation emanated from an inquiry into allegations of fraud and corruption at the Tembisa Tertiary Hospital.
Mogale said it is alleged that there exist untoward practices in relation to contracts below R500 000 which have been issued purchase orders between 2016 and 2022. These are reported to have been conducted or allocated in an unlawful and illegal manner and this has resulted in the hospital being prejudiced over R850 million. In some of the contracts, hospital employees are said to have received gratification.
The investigation team is to seize all relevant materials including documents, and electronic gadgets that are deemed to be important in the progress of the investigation, Mogale said.
She also said that the investigation will continue.
Daily News