Pretoria High Court Judge Mmonoa Teffo has determined that former Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu and the then Mental Health Director, Dr Makgabo Manamela, can be held accountable for the deaths of some Life Esidimeni patients.
Teffo was delivering his ruling during the Life Esidimeni inquest on Wednesday.
The purpose of the inquest is to determine if anyone can be held criminally liable for the deaths of 141 mental healthcare patients, who were transferred from Life Esidimeni facilities to unlicensed non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
“I have come to the conclusion that the deaths of [some of the] deceased were negligently caused by the conduct of Miss Dorothy Qedani Mahlangu and Dr Makgabo Manamela, who proceeded to terminate the contract between Life Esidimeni Care Centre and the Gauteng Department of Health, despite numerous expert advice and warnings from the professionals in mental health and stakeholders,” Teffo said in her judgment.
In 2016, the Gauteng Department of Health moved the deceased from Life Esidimeni – a long-term psychiatric care hospital, which provided highly specialised chronic care to mental healthcare users to NGOs, which Teffo described as “ill-equipped” and “inexperienced” to give proper and adequate care.
“The conduct led to regrettable and unfortunate deaths, some of which could have been avoided,” the judge said in her judgment.
Shifting her focus to Manamela, Teffo stated that she “hastily” proceeded with terminating the contract, despite expert advice.
“She could have saved many lives as she visited the NGOs and could see they were not adequately equipped, and some of the personnel were not adequately qualified to take care of the mental healthcare users.
“Effectively, Miss Qedani Mahlangu and Dr Manamela created the circumstance in which the deaths were inevitable,” the judge added.
However, the court said they could not make findings where no autopsy was performed.
The inquiry into the Life Esidimeni tragedy was established following recommendations by the Health Ombudsman after releasing a report detailing findings into a probe to establish the circumstances surrounding the deaths of mentally ill patients.
Former Health Ombudsman, Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, investigated the deaths and his report was released in February 2017.
He found that there were 94 unlawful deaths, and that fatalities were caused by reasons other than “mental health”.
The probe also uncovered that all 27 NGOs, which people were transferred to from Life Esidimeni, were operating under invalid licences.
This was followed by the commission, led by retired Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, which concluded its work in March 2018.
Mosenke concluded that families should each receive payments of R1 million in constitutional damages from government, R20 000 for funeral expenses and R180 000 for shock and psychological trauma. – SAnews.gov.za
