DA not ready to give up its Makhura fight

After a devastating loss in its attempt to oust Gauteng Premier David Makhura with a vote of no confidence, the opposition Democratic Alliance has a new trick in the hat – to take Makhura and his executive to court for the Life Esidimeni tragedy.

The party’s Gauteng provincial leader, John Moodey, said they would consult lawyers soon for advice on how to take the matter further in court.

The ruling ANC burst into a frenzy of celebrations after it defeated the DA-inspired motion by 38 votes to 27, with one abstention, in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature yesterday.

Party MPLs sang “don’t start a war”, after attacking the DA’s motion as “spurious and frivolous”.

Makhura later addressed ANC supporters in the City Hall, saying instead of having no confidence, the rejection of the motion showed Gauteng people had faith in his leadership.

But Moodey, who proposed the motion, said Makhura should shoulder the blame for the deaths of 144 mental patients who were transferred from government care by the provincial health department to ill-equipped facilities operated by unqualified nongovernmental organisations.

He said Makhura should have resigned when the first report about the deaths of the initial 36 patients was received.

“Under his watch, 144 mental ill patients were sentenced to death,” Moody said.

He lashed out at former health MEC Qedani Mahlangu for looking the other way, not showing remorse for the plight of the victims and their relatives. But a fiery ANC provincial chief whip, Brian Hlongwa, sharply lambasted Moodey, describing him as “less caring” and being “disingenuous” about the tragedy, for which all MPLs should take responsibility as they failed in their oversight function of the executive.

Hlongwa accused the DA of electioneering and warned the party to “find a better issue” to campaign about for the 2019 elections.

“The motion needs to be dismissed with the contempt it deserves,” Hlongwa said.

He asked if Makhura was to blame, why both the health ombud, Dr Malegapuru Makgoba, and the Esidimeni inquiry’s Dikgang Moseneke, the former deputy chief justice, did not find him criminally culpable for the deaths of the 144.

“Since the 54th national conference of the ANC, the opposition is disoriented,” Hlongwa said.

He was referring to the ANC national conference at Nasrec where Cyril Ramaphosa was elected ANC president.

It is believed that, under Ramaphosa, the ANC could improve its electoral performance in 2019.

But the DA MPLs did not give up the fight. Refiloe Nt’sekhe questioned why there was no government intervention to protect the escalation of the problem when the deaths were first reported.

Jack Bloom, who raised the alarm about the plight of the patients, said if Makhura accepted full responsibility for the tragedy as a premier, he should do the honourable thing and resign. He said the premier could not deny knowledge of patient transfers because he was present in the legislature when Mahlangu first reported her department planned to transfer them to NGO facilities.

“He must explain how did he not know,” Bloom said.

Bloom had urged ANC politicians to vote with their conscience in the motion. But it was defeated when it was put to the vote, with only the EFF members adding their support, sharply criticising both Makhura and health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa.

But Ramokgopa said the tragedy should not be used by the DA for cheap and narrow political gain.

“They want power at all cost. They dance to their own song,” she said. – ericn@citizen.co.za