Inquiry into deaths of 144 mental patients set to begin

THE North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria is set to formalise a date today for a full inquest into the deaths of 144 mental patients following their gruesome ordeal in 2016.

Last month, Judge Mnonoa Teffo, who was appointed to preside over the inquest, invited the families of all the victims to the first sitting of the inquest at the high court in Pretoria today.

The judge is expected to announce the date for the full inquiry after consultation with the families and their legal representatives.

An evidence leader has already been appointed to lead crucial evidence about the horror disappearance of the victims, including their being placed in mortuaries without the knowledge of their families.

The patients were moved to NGOs, which did not have qualifications and doctors to look after them, after the Gauteng Health Department terminated its contracts with Life Esidimeni due to its cost-cutting measures.

The families’ ordeal began in August 2016 when one of them, Christine Nxumalo, traced her sister to a mortuary in Heilbron.

Nxumalo also stumbled on other bodies, which had been lying there for more than six months, and alerted the police – which led to a police investigation into the Life Esidimeni saga.

Meanwhile, the Health Department has revealed that it is searching for the whereabouts of eight mental health patients who were reported missing at Life Esidimeni almost five years ago. Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi made the revelations in a written reply in the Gauteng provincial legislature to questions by DA spokesperson on health Jack Bloom last month.

Bloom had asked the MEC to provide details about the number of mental health patients who had not been located or accounted for and what efforts had been made to find them.

In her reply, Mokgethi placed the number at eight, despite scepticism from the Life Esidimeni family committee that more patients were still unaccounted for. But Mokgethi maintained that her department had conducted home visits for those whose addresses were provided, including contacting the Department of Home Affairs and the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) for assistance.

“Names and birth dates were sent to check if mental health-care users have applied for IDs and, also, whether they are receiving disability grants. The Life Esidimeni head office was also engaged.” It was “difficult and time-consuming” to trace patients if their personal information was not available, Mokgethi added.

She said a case of missing patients had been opened with the police to assist in locating them.

She remained hopeful that the patients would still be found, saying “once accurate information of patients is made available or found, it will be easy to make an assessment as to where the patients are/were located”.

Despite the glitches, Mokgethi said their investigations were continuing.