Another Esidimeni victim identified

department was able to trace his whereabouts to a mortuary in Pretoria. She said when the man died there were no contact details of his next-of-kin.

“One family informed us that they don’t know where their father is. It’s a family that comes from Meadowlands. We managed to trace their father as one of the patients with unknown contacts at the mortuary in Pretoria West and that the patient had passed away already in August,” Ramokgopa said at a media briefing on the department’s plan of action following the release of the report into the deaths by Health Ombudsman Malegapuru Makgoba.

The patients had been transferred from Life Esidimeni facilities after former health MEC Qedani Mahlangu terminated its contract “to cut costs”.

Ramokgopa said NGOs “seem to have struggled to get hold of the families, and the difficulty was that Life Esidimeni completely closed down that service”.

“When families went to Life Esidimeni the management was new, with a new programme, and had no records. So, the family has been looking for their loved one,” she said, adding that she did not know the total number of patients who were still unaccounted for.

“We are doing the tally and we are hopeful that by the end of next week, we would have completed the information verification process,” Ramokgopa said.

Acting head of department Ernest Kenoshi said that there were three [more] patients who died and were unaccounted for.

“Of those who are deceased, only three whose names we have but we do not have the contact details of their relatives.”