Babita Deokaran's killers pleaded guilty to her murder at the Johannesburg High Court today. The six hitmen Phakamani Hadebe, Zitha Hadebe, Nhlangano Ndlovu, Sanele Mbhele, Siphiwe Mazibuko, and Phakanyiswa Dladla also entered into a plea deal with the state. The case was postponed last week Tuesday to allow the state and the defence to finalise a plea agreement. The group admitted that they followed Deokaran for a month before killing her execution-style outside her home two years ago.

Judge Motsamai Makume, who was presiding over the matter, handed down different sentences to the accused according to their involvement and roles, however, it remains unknown who actually shot Doekran. Accused number 1, Hadebe, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for murder, Ndlovu received six years in prison for murder, Mbhele was handed down a 22-year sentence for murder, Dladla will spend eight years behind bars for murder and another seven years for possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, his sentences will run concurrently. Accused number 5 , Radebe, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for murder while Mazibuko was sentenced to 15 years in prison for murder. The accused were all smiles sharing conversations with their families after their sentencing, which angered the Doekran family. 

Doekran's brother Rakesh said the decision by the state to enter into a plea bargain with the accused was sickening. "It makes me sick to the stomach because none of them showed any remorse or care, whatsoever. Of the six of them, five have little kids... Did they not think about what they were doing to their kids and Babita. It's just sickening, " Rakesh said. Whistleblower Deokaran was shot and killed outside her home in Winchester Hills, in Johannesburg on 23 August 2021. She was a high-ranking official at the Gauteng Department of Health and was killed after she exposed fraud and corruption at Tembisa Hospital, where she had flagged suspicious payments of more than R850 million to various companies.

The National Prosecuting Authority's Phindi Mjonondwane said the six men were sentenced after they entered a plea and sentencing agreement with the state. "Therefore, we have considered that they did not waste the state's time. They've also provided us with information that will be helpful in our investigation to get the mastermind in this case. We believe that there is a mastermind out there and the accused in court did not deal with them directly but dealt with the middleman, so now we have people of interest and those investigations will be ongoing because we believe that justice can only be served once we get to the bottom of the root cause for Miss Doekaran losing her life because she was a whistleblower. "