Johannesburg - The appointment of new Hawks investigators into the murder of whistleblower Babita Deokaran shows that the initial investigation was botched and crucial evidence lost.

Jack Bloom, DA’s Shadow Health MEC, said that according to a report, the new team was seeking information from the three cellphones of taxi boss Khanyisani Mpungose, who was named as a mastermind by the six men who were recently jailed for her killing.

Mpungose was initially questioned but released because his firearm could not be linked to the crime. Bloom said that the police had neglected to download information from his cellphones when he was in custody, and he was murdered in a taxi feud a few months later.

According to the plea bargain of the six men, Mpungose and an unknown person fired 11 shots at Babita’s car, and he was “clearly acting on behalf of other unknown persons.”

Mpungose’s family say two of his cellphones were lost shortly after his death, and one was lost a few months ago, so this evidence was no longer available.

Bloom said the other example of bungling was that the police did not analyse Babita’s cellphone and laptop, saying It was only after they were returned to her family and analysed by journalists that it was revealed how she had tried to stop hundreds of suspicious payments by the Tembisa Hospital.

“The Gauteng Department of Community Safety dodges this issue in a reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature. They refuse to answer whether police took any information from her cellphone and laptops, saying this cannot be divulged “due to the sensitive nature of this matter” and a “serious threat” to the investigator.

“The department denies there were any shortcomings in the investigation of this case, but it is clear they failed to properly analyse Babita’s communication devices, and also failed to get information from Mpungose’s cellphones when they could have done so,” he said.

Bloom said the country was no closer to finding the real mastermind/s who gave the orders to murder Babita because she had threatened their lucrative crookery.

“The question is whether police failures are due to incompetence or deliberately botched to protect certain political figures who may be implicated,” Bloom said.

He said the DA wanted accountability for police failures in this matter, and further investigations should be relentless in finding all those involved in Babita’s murder.

The Saturday Star

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New investigators appointed in Babita Deokaran's murder case