Former Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu. Picture: Gallo Images / Alon Skuy
The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has ruled that some of the deaths at Life Esidimeni were due to negligence on the part of the province’s former Health MEC, Qedani Mahlangu.
Judge Mmonoa Teffo delivered her findings into the Life Esidimeni inquest on Wednesday.
Teffo ruled that Mahlangu and former director of Gauteng’s mental health services, Dr Makgabo Manamela were responsible for the deaths of nine patients.
“Ms Mahlangu proceeded to terminate the contract between the Life Esidimeni Care Centre and the Gauteng Department of Health despite numerous expert advice and warnings from the professionals in mental health.
“The deceased were further moved out the Life Esidimeni facilities to NGOs which were not equipped and inexperienced to give proper and adequate care in providing the requisite mental health care,” she said on Wednesday.
The judge emphasised that the deaths could have been avoided.
“In respect of Dr Makgabo Manamela, she proceeded to hastily facilitate the implantation of the termination plan against expert advice from professionals and stakeholders.
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“She could have saved many lives as she visited the NGOs and could see that they were not adequately equipped and some of the personnel were not adequately qualified to care for the mental health care users,” Teffo continued.
She noted that some of the NGOs were tasked with caring for patients despite not following the prescribed protocols.
“Effectively, Ms Qedani Mahlangu and Dr Makgabo Manamela created the circumstances in which the deaths were inevitable.”
Regarding the deaths for which no autopsy was performed, Teffo was unable to make a determination.
The judge detailed how one of a 50-year-old woman suffered from malnutrition, dehydration and gangrene, which contributed to her death.
The Life Esidimeni inquest investigated the deaths of just over 140 mental health patients to determine if anyone can be held criminally liable for the 2016 tragedy.
The inquest started in July 2021 and concluded towards the end of 2023.
The patients died following their relocation, which was a result of the termination of a contract in October 2015, from the Life Esidimeni facilities to various NGOs.
READ MORE: Life Esidimeni: ‘There were no budget cuts’, says former MEC Creecy
According to a report by former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, 144 people died and 44 others were missing; while 1 418 of the transferred patients survived.
Moseneke, who sat on the Life Esidimeni arbitration hearings in 2017, ordered the Gauteng Department of Health to pay the victims’ families R1 million each as compensation.
A 2017 South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) report also highlighted how mental health care in the country was stigmatised, with facilities lacking resources and technical capacity.
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