MALAIKA MAHLATSI | Assassinations: How SA mimics Haiti’s descent into total anarchy

In it, she can be seen standing in a parking lot when her killer approaches her, shoots her in the head, and she falls to the ground; he pumps four more bullets into her head at close range before fleeing the scene. Her murder was reminiscent of that of whistleblowerBabita Deokaran, who was gunned down outside her home in August 2021. Like Rantsofu, Deokaran worked with state finances.

She was the director of financial accounting in the Gauteng department of health and had blown the whistle on corruption that we now know was linked to the staggering R2bn looting of Tembisa Hospital. Over the past few years, we’ve seen an escalation in the killing of accountants and auditors working in the state. Just 10 months ago, Mpho Mafole, the head of corporate and forensic audits for the City of Ekurhuleni, was shot and killed in a targeted assassination while driving on the R23 in Esselen Park.

He was killed shortly after exposing irregularities in a R1.8bn tender. In 2023, insolvency practitioner and forensic auditor Cloete Murry was murdered along with his son, Thomas, while probing financial irregularities linked to state capture. Other murdered victims working with or within the state include Moses Tshake, who was the head auditor at the Free State department of agriculture and rural development.

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He was killed while auditing a controversial tender. Sindiso Magaqa, a local councillor who had blown the whistle on corruption in the Umzimkhulu local municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, was shot multiple times before succumbing to his injuries back in 2017. These murders, among others, are part of a broader trend of assassinations targeting investigators, liquidators, and government officials.

The trajectory that SA is on reminds me of the Caribbean island nation of Haiti, which has descended into unimaginable anarchy. The situation has resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe, with massive displacement and violence rendering everyday life impossible. The nation faces total collapse as gangsters and criminals have replaced state institutions in controlling resources and territories.

But Haiti’s descent into gang rule did not happen in a vacuum. It stems from decades of political exploitation of armed groups, systemic poverty, and a power vacuum following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. He was allegedly involved in massive corruption and used gangs to advance his interests.

These gangs, initially used by politicians to control poor areas, became autonomous, heavily armed, and seized control of up to 90% of Port-au-Prince, the capital. Today, they run the country.

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