The Life Esidimeni families have expressed concern that almost 10 years after the deaths of 144 mental healthcare users and more than a year since an inquest judgment into their deaths, there is still no decision on the prosecution of those responsible.
The patients who died were among the 1,711 mentally ill people who were transferred from Life Esidimeni facilities in 2015 and 2016 to ill-prepared non-governmental organisations.
The families on Tuesday met the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), represented by acting director of public prosecutions Marika Jansen van Vuuren. The families said the meeting followed years of delays in the decision to prosecute those responsible for the deaths.
The NPA told the families it had received a legal opinion that recommended prosecution of former Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu and former director of mental health Dr Makgabo Manamela.
“However, the legal opinion recommends prosecutions for the deaths of only two people: Mr Terence Chaba and Ms Virginia Machpelah,” the families said.
The NPA informed the families that a team of prosecutors had been formed to assess both the legal opinion and the extensive evidence already presented at the inquest to make a final decision on prosecution.
The meeting this week comes after the NPA announced last year it was in the process of making a thorough, well-informed decision on the matter. The announcement last year was made in response to a demand for justice and accountability for Life Esidimeni victims made by public interest law centre Section27.
The families said a decision to criminally prosecute all those whose actions caused the deaths was what they had demanded all along.
“In this regard we feel vindicated and welcome the NPA’s movement towards a decision. However, almost 10 years after the deaths and over a year since the inquest judgment, there is still no decision on prosecution, even after a legal opinion.”
They said by limiting accountability to only two deaths, it felt as if the NPA was sending a message that the other 142 deaths did not matter, and said that was not justice.
“It reflects a failure to honour the pain of the families and the dignity of those who died. It amounts to protecting those responsible, rather than holding them fully accountable.”
The families said they believed there was overwhelming evidence that had been presented in multiple formal processes to charge more people.
These included the health ombudsman’s report in 2017 which exposed the gross human rights violations, unlawful transfers and neglect that led to the tragedy.
There was also an arbitration presided over by former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke who found that the government had acted unlawfully, recklessly and with disregard for human life. Moseneke ordered compensation for families while affirming the state’s liability.
The families said the inquest presided over by judge Mmonoa Teffo established in July last year that there was prima facie evidence linking Mahlangu and Manamela to multiple unlawful deaths, highlighting systemic negligence and criminal liability.
“Taken together, these processes, combined with the unrelenting calls from and evidence provided by families over nearly a decade, constitute an undeniable body of evidence.”
The families demanded that the NPA immediately consider not only the inquest judgment and legal opinion but the mountain of evidence that formed part of the inquest record, including from the arbitration, and recognise the urgent need for a prosecution that reflected the full scale of the tragedy.
TimesLIVE
