Decision on ending Life Esidimeni contract was not made by Gauteng health dept – Mahlangu

Former Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu says the decision to terminate the health department’s contract with Life Esidimeni as a cost containment measure was not initiated by her.

Mahlangu appeared before the Life Esidimeni inquest in the High Court in Pretoria on Thursday, where she was cross-examined by Life Esidimeni legal representative advocate Harry van Bergen.

The hearing will determine whether anyone can be held criminally liable after 144 mental health patients died after they were transferred from Life Esidimeni to other NGOs in 2016.

Minutes of meetings

Before her cross-examination could begin, Mahlangu pleaded with the court to make available minutes of a meeting she had with other officials on 13 November 2014, where she insists the Life Esidimeni matter was not discussed at all.

“I am pleading that the minutes of 13 November 2014 be requested, particularly relevant to the department of health’s presentation in order to prove the fact that the origins of the decisions relating to all of those cost containment measures subsequently submitted on the 16th [November] are not derived from the department of health’s presentation made on the 13th of November. This is my plea,” said Mahlangu.

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“I was a full member appointed by the premier in 2014 as a chairperson of the social cluster. MEC Lebogang Maile was the chair of the economic cluster, MEC Ismail Vardi was the chair of the government cluster, I was chairperson of the social cluster, MEC Barbara Creecy and then premier David Makhura – those were the five politicians who were part of the budget committee.”

However, according to Mahlangu, the names of these officials did not reflect on the minutes of that meeting, hence her insistence on the original minutes being made available.

“When we go before the premier’s budget committee, I do not go alone. Dr Barney Selebano [former head of Gauteng’s Department of Health] was present and his council can attest to that, the CFO and many other senior officials from the department of health were present with me in all these meetings and their names are not reflected.

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“The attendance register in those meetings, we were signing by hand, not by computer, and the sad thing, I wish to state to the court, that when we present, as members of the PBC, I would sit with the other members when other departments present, when it was time for the department of health [which I led] to present, I would move from the chairs where the PBC members sit and sit next to the officials of the department of health present, take questions, respond to questions and the premier and MEC Creecy would then make concluding remarks.”

Mahlangu insisted that the Life Esidimeni matter did not arise at all at the meeting on 13 November 2014, but cost containment measures were submitted three days later.

The former health MEC said it was the budget committee that made the decision to terminate the contract.

Mahlangu’s qualifications

Van Bergen further asked about Mahlangu’s qualifications, which she said were mainly in economics and finance. She doesn’t have an medical or nursing qualification.

He also questioned Mahlangu on what she knew as fact and what she knew as hearsay, following her testimony that she relied on staff members of the department to carry out the actual functions within the department.

“It flows from that, really. Because you had to rely on other persons to do the work of the department, that you were also reliant on them to keep you informed of all relevant aspects pertaining to the work that they were doing,” said Van Bergen.

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“You were not in a position where you, from your own, comment on issues specifically with regards to the Life Esidimeni termination project, on planning that was done save as was discussed in meetings and more particularly, you cannot comment from personal knowledge on the execution of the various transfers from Life Esidimeni facilities to NGOs and hospitals.”

“Yes it is absolutely correct,” responded Mahlangu.

“For that reason, in your various affidavits, the chronology and so forth to issues that were brought to your attention, such as issues of medication, that was conveyed to you by somebody in your department, were not observed by yourself personally.”

“Yes, it’s true,” said Mahlangu.

Mahlangu said it would have taken a “super human being” to be able to do all the things she was expected to have done during the relocation period.

“I needed not to sleep if I really had to do some of the things that is suggested I should have done.”

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