Heads must roll in Esidimeni scandal

To call the inquiry into the deaths of 141 people in the Life Esidimeni scandal an arbitration is to underestimate the importance of the proceedings being conducted under the chairmanship of retired judge Dikgang Moseneke.

It will bring justice and closure to the families who lost their loved ones in one of the biggest medical outrages in democratic South Africa. But it will also, if Moseneke’s track record as a no-holds-barred judge is anything to go by, ensure that there is full accountability from the government.

The incompetence of officials in the Gauteng department of health cannot be condoned – and nor can it be covered up.

The heads of civil servants must roll but so, too, must those of the political heads of the department on whose watch the atrocity happened.

And, we are sure, Moseneke will insist that systems and safeguards be put in place so that other vulnerable people in the health system are treated as human beings, not merely as figures on a balance sheet … or as a means to save money.

There must also be more thorough audits of service providers and any outsourcing of health functions should be thoroughly policed. This tragedy cannot be allowed to happen again.