Court order hits where it hurts

A RECENT high court ruling will hopefully precurse a new era of accountability for senior state officials.

The ruling related to the claim for damages by Vuyisile Lushaba. In 2000, she was neglected for two hours in the labour ward at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, resulting in her baby, Menzi, being born with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. He can’t walk or even sit.

Acting Judge Ronee Robinson declared Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu “100 percent” liable for Lushaba’s damages and awarded punitive costs, including attorney fees, wasted costs of court adjournments, expert report fees and medical costs.

Significantly, Judge Robinson said: “I fail to appreciate why the taxpayer should bear the brunt of the failure by the public service to perform its duties adequately.”

The judge said if the MEC thought she should not be held “personally liable’’ she should identify such persons in the department who should be held liable. An appeal against that award is pending.

Prime culprits of damages claims like the SAPS and hospital services budget billions of rand for litigation awards against staff for malpractice, malfeasance or sheer criminality. There is seemingly never any attempt to reduce the litigation budget by eliminating horrific incidents like the Lushaba tragedy.

Malpractice seems to be regarded

There are no punitive consequences for the political head

as just an unavoidable fact of life. The State merely dips into the bottomless pit of public funds to settle litigation if its proven to be culpable.

Invariably there are no punitive consequences for the political head of department, managers or guilty staff. They often remain in their jobs.

Litigation for personal accountability is an accepted practice in law even in the private sector, and also relating to the general public.

If a death occurs on a homeowner’s property and he is found to have been negligent in maintaining a safe environment, that person can be held liable for civil damages as well as criminal prosecution. A similar criterion applies to a company boss who is negligent in maintaining safety standards in the business precinct.

It is predominantly the public sector wrongdoers who evade personal damages by milking state funds for contesting court actions and settling damages awards.

It’s high time state administrative management and staff, as well as their private sector equivalents, start being held personally responsible.

Only when management duffers and politicians found to be culpable of gross incompetence or criminality in their fiefdoms feel the pain in their own pockets will they start insisting on adequate protection for the public.

Carmen Rossi

Parkhurst, Joburg