‘My son died a month before I could take care of him’

He died two months after the move and three weeks after Monyane last saw him

MIRRIAM Monyane was looking forward to her retirement so she could finally be able to remove her son from an institution and care for him.

But a month before Monyane’s retirement, Thabo, 32, who had cerebral palsy, died.

Thabo had been a patient at the Cullinan Care and Rehabilitation Centre (CCRC) for 11 years.

He was moved to Siyabadinga NGO to make space for patients who had been moved from Life Esidimeni institutions to CCRC as part of the Gauteng Health Department’s mental health marathon project.

Over 141 patients died. He died two months after the move and three weeks after Monyane last saw him. Monyane said that when Thabo was moved to Siyabadinga, the facility didn’t have clothes and blankets for patients.

She, with the help of her neighbours, donated the things the centre needed. “Every time I visited him, I would count the months for him.

‘‘I would tell him that I was going to retire in September and live with him in October,” Monyane told the Life Esidimeni alternative dispute resolution.

In 2016, unlike previous years, Monyane didn’t take Thabo home for the June holidays as she was admitted to hospital.

She hadn’t seen him for three weeks when she got a call from the institution to tell her that Thabo was sick.

She rushed to the centre and found Thabo seriously ill. “I took him home and when I was bathing him, he had a big sore on his thigh.

“I took him to the Steve Biko Hospital and the doctor said he wouldn’t live.

‘‘He said there was something wrong with his kidneys because he didn’t get enough food and water.”

Thabo was moved to Tshwane District Hospital were he died two days after Monyane removed him from Siyabadinga.

“I miss my son. I haven’t accepted his death.

‘‘I have a lot of questions and no answers. I have lost so much,” Monyane said.

While Monyane still mourns Thabo’s death, Jacob Sikhakhane is grateful his brother Mduduzi is one of the lucky ones to survive the mental health debacle.

Mduduzi, who suffers from bipolar disorder, was moved from Life Esidimeni Waverley to Rebafenyi NGO in Pretoria.

When he visited Mduduzi at the centre, his brother was hungry and there were goats and sheep roaming the property.

He refused to take his medicine because he said all patients were given the same medication despite having different disorders. He relapsed and was admitted to hospital.

Once released, he was moved to several institutions until settling in Waverley again where he then escaped.

Once he was found, he was transferred to Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital where he remains at present.

“He looks better. Before all of this, he understood his condition but now he has relapsed,” Sikhakhane said.