Jeff Wicks 🇿🇦
@wicks_jeff
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Investigative Journalist @News24. Co-author of Eight Days in July. Projects: #Silenced #BloodBrothers #KillingKinnear @jeffwicks.bsky.social
South Africa
Joined November 2014
At 08h24 – three years ago tomorrow – hitmen pumped twelve bullets into Babita Deokaran. She had just dropped her daughter at school. Unbeknownst to her, she had been stalked for days, and her assassins had been lying in wait. This is what happened and what transpired since 🧵
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Anyone who thinks our government is capable of compiling a spaza shop registry in 21 says [15 working days] has learnt nothing over the past decade.
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We have been investigating the death of #BabitaDeokaran for more than a year. We have exposed the Tembisa Hospital as a contract factory - beset by an extraction network of fake companies. A 🧵of what we have found.
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When Armand Swart was gunned down in the middle of April, we struggled to pin down why. It turns out that, two weeks before the killing, his company made a whistleblower report. A short 🧵.
Whistleblower murder: Vereeniging engineer slain after report of 4 500% Transnet contract price inflation.
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Someone put this woman on Safair to Durban.
MUST WATCH WOW! 🤩. An INCREDIBLE moment as South Africa perform a passionate rendition of their national anthem 😅🇿🇦
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Just minutes after #BabitaDeokaran was riddled with bullets, her boss, Lerato Madyo, sent her a seemingly prescient Whatsapp message: "Are u ok?????!!!!" . A thread 🧵.
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A man under investigation by the Hawks and SIU, for submitting ‘forged’ tender documents, got a R360m tender from the ones investigating him. I don’t know anymore. SILENCED | Police award R360m contract to Tembisa Hospital tender don
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Court awards R1.25m in damages to Cape Town pub owners over false racism accusations.
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I’ve covered law enforcement for @News24 for four years. Countless interview requests sent to Bheki Cele were ignored. Now, a step change. One message sent to @Senzo_Mchunu_ and I got a call back and a frank, candid discussion.
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This is a "bonded leather wingback chair", one of 100 purchased by the Tembisa Hospital for just shy of R500k. It's worth looking at the "businessman" who supplied these. A thread:.
I visited Tembisa Hospital and they blamed all the fishy purchases on “coding errors”. They said this chair was delivered instead of the R5000 wingback leather chair. What’s a good price for this chair?
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The mastermind behind Babita Deokaran’s assassination has walked free for 1063 days. Graphic: Sharlene Rood/News24
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It takes two to tender, but only with Tembisa Hospital. 10 companies, no websites, no offices, no experience. no matter. R15m for Themba Shabalala and his wife Evelyn.
SILENCED | Why Babita Deokaran was murdered
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1210 days have passed since Babita Deokaran was assassinated after exposing what would become a R3b hospital tender extraction scheme. Paymaster - free.Tender vultures - free. Her family has been failed.
You need to read this thread. @wicks_jeff unmasks the faces of murderous greed.
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Babita Deokaran has become synonymous with bravery and immovable ethics. That is now her legacy. Her family deserves justice and the public deserves answers. This will be bigger than the R3billion lost to Tembisa Hospital tender highwaymen.
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@News24 @GautengHealth Tomorrow @News24 will reveal the true, devastating scope of the rot and how the police have failed Deokaran and her family.
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Today, on the third anniversary of her death, the only ones in orange are the triggermen, disposable izinkabi. Mastermind - free.Tender vultures - free. This is an insult to her memory and what she stood for.
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Tembisa Hospital is a mess, and the rot goes deeper. One family, 17 companies, 152 payments = R55m. R9600 for a plastic bucket. Babita Deokaran warned @GautengHealth bosses. She was killed three weeks later.
SILENCED | Tembisa Hospital splurge exposed: Leather loungers, skinny jeans and R10 000 for a bucket. #BabitaDeokaran.
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A fuel tanker with a heavily armed escort delivers petrol to Durban's Bluff. SUPPLIED. #UnrestSA #KZNshutdown @TeamNews24
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Yesterday, in Sandton, the @MyJRA was out in force painting lines, just in time for Brics. We really do know how to put lipstick on a pig.
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It's been six months since we started reporting on what exactly Babita Deokaran found just weeks before her death – and why she feared for her life. A lot has happened since then. An update🧵:.
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Babita Deokaran’s relatives - failed entirely by the state apparatus and the Hawks - have started sharing this image. I do wonder if @CyrilRamaphosa has taken notice. The mastermind of her assassination has been free for 1103 days.
.@ForDemocracySa hosted a picket outside SARS yesterday. As a journalist I have covered some of these high profile assassinations alongside my colleague @wicks_jeff who has shown us the way with his Silenced series on the murder of Babita Deokaran. I fully support the message.
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Today would have been Babita Deokaran's birthday. Remember her for paying the ultimate price for doing the right thing. The country and all South Africans owe her a debt of gratitude. We won't stop fighting for what she stood for #protectwhistleblowers.
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Striking Nehawu workers outside Stanger Hospital in KZN assault paramedics and attempt to remove a critically injured child from the ESV. Now they hold the ambulance hostage. This here is criminal in every respect.
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Our entire @News24 project, with all the details of what the police and @GautengHealth tried to keep hidden, can be read here: .
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'We're at war': Mkhwanazi tears into experts calling for inquiry into suspects killed by cops in KZN.
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We are dropping more stories in this series in the days to come. We intend to finish the job that #BabitaDeokaran started. All the stories in our Silenced series are here: .
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18 days earlier, Deokaran reported concerns about R850m in suspicious payments from @TembisaHospital and halted R100m in outgoing funds. This is the first link in her chain of disaster.
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Once Deokaran was dead, Madyo and others quietly covered up the report, and ensured that R100m in frozen payments was released. Strange that.
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Washed-up soccer star Themba Shabalala and his wife Evelyn scored R15m in contracts in a matter of weeks - including delivering R500k's worth of children's skinny jeans. I would also smile if I got rich overnight.
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Three years and the paymaster who ordered the assassination of #Babita Deokaran walks free. A #whistleblower shot twelve times just weeks after trying to stop R100m and investigate R1bn more. @KathradaFound @GautengHealth
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Armand Swart is dead - collateral damage - because a company did the right thing: reported corruption. Now alleged hit-squad nexus, detective Michael Pule Tau, is purportedly withering away in prison because of his "diabetes". Tomorrow we reveal his high-life behind bars, his
When Armand Swart was gunned down in the middle of April, we struggled to pin down why. It turns out that, two weeks before the killing, his company made a whistleblower report. A short 🧵.
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He botched this investigation, either through gross ineptitude or malice. He was promoted shortly after that. The result is that the paymaster who ordered this killing has been free for three years. This is a travesty.
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We used this self-same laptop and cell phone data - which the police had - to unravel what turned out to be an R1 billion tender extraction network. We exposed politicians, tender vultures and their proxies.
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BABITA DEOKARAN | Tembisa Hospital corruption losses surge by R2bn as murder investigation dies .
@News24 @GautengHealth Tomorrow @News24 will reveal the true, devastating scope of the rot and how the police have failed Deokaran and her family.
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The work continues. Next month, @News24 will launch a documentary about this brave whistleblower.
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Hawks detective Percy Chauke seized her phone and laptop- key evidence items that logically could point to someone with a motive. He locked them away in an evidence storeroom and never examined them. Not once.
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Our political actors and the tenderprenuers who fund them can't seem to help themselves when it comes to splurging the trappings of wealth, specifically sports cars. A short 🧵on how they do this - without getting caught.
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For those worried SA is turning into a mafia state, don't. It's already happened.
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Six hitmen were arrested within three days through some solid policework. Unfortunately, that's where the good policework stopped.
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Whistleblower murder: Vereeniging engineer slain after report of 4 500% Transnet contract price inflation.
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On August 11, she sent a Whatsapp message to her boss, @GautengHealth CFO Lerato Madyo. She was concerned that there was a target on her back, and she was right. Madyo said there would be an investigation - this was an outright lie.
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Three weeks before she was murdered, Deokaran reported a list of 217 entities she worried were fraudulent. She died before she could take her probe further, and @GautengHealth seemed happy to ignore what she found.
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Those who stand against corruption have been marked for death. We must understand that we stand at a critical moment that imperils our democracy. A 🧵. @News24 . Democracy threatened: Maiming of SARS advocate 'an attack on the state and rule of law'
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Six months of nothing: Tembisa Hospital staff who helped R1 billion tender mafia still at work
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News24 revealed profligate spending from @TembisaHospital — crooked contracts on an industrial scale — that Deokaran reported and died for. This included R500k for skinny jeans.
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One year ago today, Johannesburg teacher Kirsten Kluyts was killed during an organised running event in one of the country's most secure suburbs. A short 🧵on our @News24 visual investigation.
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*Edward Kieswetter’s car collection.
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Remember Armand Swart, an honest, uncontroversial man who was assassinated because of greed and corruption.
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We found it strange that their ten companies were formed on the same day - that's not how things work in the business world. But they were successful, and Tembisa Hospital thought of them as reliable suppliers.
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Justice Minister Thembi Simelane is fighting scandal on several fronts, which does not bode well for her or the vitally important ministry she steers. Her dalliance with VBS is public, but another malignant issue—access to the Zondo Commission database—lies beneath the surface.
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To us, it looks like these "business people" are running - and we wonder why if they were at the helm of legitimate, law-abiding entities. The full story is here: .
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Deokaran found massive and deep-rooted networks. They had perfected their scheme and executed it with devastating effect.
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This was a long list, but it quickly became apparent that 54 entities were actually controlled by a handful of people. These "businesses" used fake addresses and existed only on paper. They all scored millions at the same time.
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Another happy couple - they scored R30m in a matter of weeks. One of their so-called "businesses" was a condemned building. Another was a home for mentally challenged adults. Again, this is suspicious.
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Zenzele Benedict Sithole was gunned down in cold blood. Not a robbery nor a hijacking. An assassination. Short 🧵. WATCH | CCTV footage shows slaying of COJ corruption investigator, probing multimillion-rand graft
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The tale of the ongoing ecological disaster at @city_mogale is best told in two pictures. 1. 74-year-old Joyce Hlatshwayo has literal shit coursing through her garden since 1996. 2. Well paid public servants and @DWS_RSA bigwigs meet in glitzy hotel on how to fix this mess,
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Piles of red flags aside, these were obviously very successful business people. But after we started writing about them, something very strange happened. In 48 hours, they all abandoned their businesses.
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We are taking a long hard look at the new Tembisa business baron - and others who landed lucrative contracts from a hospital that battles equipment shortages and a lack of resources.
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This is a story about Babita Deokaran's life and sacrifice. DOCUMENTARY | Silenced: Why Babita Deokaran was murdered via @news24.
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This happy couple is just one part of a network. We found eleven examples of a pattern: an individual in control of five entities, all formed on the same day, would bank millions from a flood of business in the space of weeks, with no discernible links.
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The pattern repeated itself. Sydney Thindelo lucked out and scored R20m. Companies all established in one day. They had fake addresses and no offices, but they had working bank accounts that were filled with cash meant to keep a government hospital afloat.
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They ceded control to one man, Dr Stefan Govindraju. We asked him how this came to be, and we wanted to know about his ties to all of these successful tenderpreneurs. Answering questions made him uncomfortable.
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"We set out a clear plan to end load shedding, which we have been implementing with a single-minded focus through the National Energy Crisis Committee." - CR/Sona. Seem to be working well.
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'I was not drunk, I was sober as a judge' - FlySafair passenger threatens to sue airline
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We need urgent answers from our leaders as to where to from here. This is in a major hub, what of the towns and villages in KZN with only empty shelves #UnrestSA #KZNshutdown @TeamNews24
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With this new arrest for fraud, @KabeloGwamanda can join the MKP now.
Former Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda was arrested in connection with an alleged funeral policy scam that he ran in Soweto in 2011.
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Eskom at war: De Ruyter mounts full-scale probe into 'criminal' networks in Mpumalanga
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I could go on. In total, 54 companies were controlled by less than ten people, and their bank accounts swelled. The way they operated seemed stencilled - as if coordinated - with the singular purpose of extracting cash. Look how little effort they put into their e-mail addresses.
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A couple of years back, I had to cover Zuma attending an Easter Sunday church service. He was scheduled to arrive at 9am. He showed up at 6pm. Glad to see he is still so consistent.
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WATCH | 'The Lord put his foot on mine and I kept going' – Tazz driver who rammed into Durban robber
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SIU probe saves R3bn in dodgy medico-legal claims, finds 'collusion' between lawyers and health staff.
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SILENCED | The big score: Tembisa tender kings 'inflated' prices for embattled hospital by up to 2 000%
The Hospital CEO signed them, and Babita's boss Madyo approved the payments.
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Impunity thrives. The culprits are protected from within, and the poor they steal from suffer. R15m Komani sports field scandal: Eastern Cape municipality yet to report officials to police
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Mkhwebane not entitled to R10-million gratuity because she was removed, says Parliament
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The noose is tightening. VBS accused who gave justice minister coffee shop 'loan' fined R3m, debarred for 10 years
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Absolutely world class from our new mayor. Don't expect big improvements while I'm in charge, says new Joburg mayor Dada Morero.
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EXCLUSIVE | Mozambique wants to know why Eskom has not moved on the 100MW power it offered SA three months ago
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@News24 @GautengHealth BABITA DEOKARAN | Tembisa Hospital corruption losses surge by R2bn as murder investigation dies .
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If you want to see the visible decline of a city, where misrule and graft correlate with decay and the rotting of potential, you need only visit Durban.
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SILENCED | Tembisa Hospital splurge exposed: Leather loungers, skinny jeans and R10 000 for a bucket. #BabitaDeokaran.
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Disbarred lawyer Nonxuba – accused of stealing R188m from disabled children – faces arrest.
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Mashatile under pressure: Hawks, Public Protector and now SIU probe cases linked to deputy president.
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Dysfunctipalities: Nearly 300 KZN councillors can't read or write
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Just look. This is governance failure of disastrous consequence. @CityofJoburgZA.
Gazing over at the Telkom Tower. Johannesburg. A city, fallen. 2010 vs 2023.
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#EightDaysInJuly hit the shelves and, disappointingly, some have circulated a pirate copy. Weeks of effort went into this. We toiled cultivated sources - and during the unrest, we put our lives on the line. Please don’t cheapen it by reading our work reduced to a 1.4MB PDF.
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With police stretched thin, the people of KZN are protecting themselves. Armed groups have mustered across the province. This footage shows a road block in Durban North @TeamNews24 #KZNshutdown #ZumaUnrest
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The phone - of crucial evidentiary value - was lost before the police could analyse it. It's a travesty that a police investigation took so long to get off the ground. It only began after @News24 began publishing stories about what Deokaran found.
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Personally, I can’t wait for some enterprising cop to pull footage from the slow lounge and see what other beverages found their way to that table. 'I was not drunk, I was sober as a judge' - FlySafair passenger threatens to sue airline
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ActionSA threatens to quit Tshwane coalition govt if ANC fields mayoral candidate.
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Yes, and ask why? What’s on that database they want kept in the dark?.
NPA says Justice Dept has hindered access to state capture commission database
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No surprises here. Police top brass in disarray over De Ruyter questions
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Maybe if @GautengHealth spent less money on skinny jeans and stopped the cash flows to a R3billion Tembisa.tender extraction network, the Health Ombud would have less to do.
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If anyone has information on this matter, who cannot allow themselves to let this become another unsolved hit, contact @azarrahk or myself @News24 . Discretion assured. Spread far and wide #ZenzeleBenedictSithole.
Zenzele Benedict Sithole - a seasoned City of Johannesburg corruption investigator - took his last breaths slumped over his steering wheel after a lone gunman peppered his car with bullets. | @azarrahk @wicks_jeff .
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Meet SA's hardest cop: Colonel Coetzer's fearless fight left 18 robbers dead (and him without a leg).
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Remember what happened at Tembisa Hospital, where extraction syndicates flourished with the same checks against graft bypassed. A short 🧵. NHI reaches landmark as Parliament committee gives its approval via @News24_Business.
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