On 23 August 2021, Babita Deokaran was shot down outside her home in Mondeor, Johannesburg. In her role as Chief Director: Financial Accounting at the Gauteng Department of Health she had uncovered rampant corruption within the Gauteng provincial government and blew the whistle. Following the assassination, the Special Investigating Unit confirmed that Deokaran had been a key witness in a multi-million-rand fraud investigation linked to alleged improper COVID-19 personal protective equipment tenders.