Zille slammed over Esidimeni tweet
SOME of the families of those who died during the Life Esidimeni transfers have slammed Western Cape Premier Helen Zille for her “insensitive” tweet about what efforts were made by families to raise the alarm.
The families were last week overjoyed after retired deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke, in his final report after the arbitration hearings, awarded more than R250 million to 144 families in compensation.
Reacting to this, Zille took to Twitter on Monday, saying: “It is good that the families of the Life Esidimeni victims have received a measure of justice and compensation. I would like an answer to this question: What did they do, before these tragic deaths, to raise the alarm about their loved ones starving and living in profound neglect?”
Her tweet was met with a backlash, with some users saying she was insensitive and was once again embarrassing herself in public.
Zille, in a subsequent tweet, tried explaining herself, saying: “Nowhere have I blamed any victim. I have said that compensation was right and just. I am just asking totally rational questions that any half awake newspaper reader would ask, because these questions deserve answers.”
One user pointed out to Zille that many of the families had asked questions but were ignored, and that their stories also came out in the hearings led by Moseneke.
Zille replied: “Well I’m afraid they were not prominently reported in any of the reports I read.”
DA federal executive chairperson James Selfe said: “The party views Premier Zille’s tweets as unfortunate, but this was done in terms of her personal capacity. This does not transgress the party’s code of conduct.”
Section27, which represented some of the families during the hearings, expressed shock at Zille’s comments, saying that if she had done more research as a public representative and a premier, she would have seen the efforts the families had made before the relocations.
The organisation’s spokesperson Ngqabutho Mpofu said: “If Premier Zille had taken a look at that (research), she would have been able to see things were done before, and it’s unfortunate because she is an influencer on Twitter.”
He called on Zille to take back her utterances and publicly apologise to the families, adding that the premier and her party never supported the families in their hour of need.
Welhemina Thejane, the sister of Daniel Charles Josiah, 42, who was among those who died, said Zille should apologise for thinking the families of the Esidimeni victims never did anything.
“We complained, and when the Health Department would not hear our complaints, I personally went to the newspapers to expose what was happening. Weeks later other families came forward and told their stories as well. It is wrong to suggest that we did nothing, and not only once, but many times, countless times,” Thejane said.
Approached for comment, Zille’s spokesperson Michael Mpofu referred the newspaper to a column the premier wrote following her tweet.
In the column, Zille said: “People sometimes accuse me of having an empathy deficit. They are profoundly wrong. I have enough empathy to know that handwringing does not cut it. Asking the right questions and taking the hard decisions, does. Taking personal responsibility does. Having a capable, competent and efficient department does.
“This means appointing the right MEC to head the department and the right professionals in the right positions, who are dedicated enough to go way beyond the call of duty, tooth-combing an entire province to find unlicensed facilities to make sure they are brought up to scratch. That is real care, not sentimentality,” she wrote.
AS SOUTH Africa commemorated the sacrifices made during the Struggle for democracy yesterday, advocacy group Section27 says the country must ensure human rights don’t exist only on paper.
Delivering his report on the Life Esidimeni hearings earlier this week, arbitrator and retired deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke described the tragedy as inhumane and stripped victims of their dignity.
The Gauteng Health Department transferred about 1 500 patients into ill-equipped and underfunded NGOs in 2016.
At least 144 psychiatric patients died, while 44 patients who were part of the project are still unaccounted for and remain missing persons.
Umunyana Rugege, one of two attorneys for Section27, who also represented the families of the victims, said the arbitration proceedings were a major step towards a new culture of accountability in the civil service.
“An important lesson is about accountability of those in authority. What the constitution requires of those officials is that they ensure that they listen to family members, they are accountable to individuals they serve as well as be responsive to civil society,” she said.
Moseneke found that former Gauteng MEC for health Qedani Mahlangu’s reasons for the relocation of the patients were irrational, unlawful and unconstitutional, and that the move was a serious breach of healthcare-user protocols.
“The constitution says officials must be responsive, transparent and accountable, so all those things must happen not only in relation to the Gauteng Department of Health but all government officials. In this case, they ignored the warnings of professionals, including clinical heads within the province. We endlessly asked for a plan for each and every person who is being moved out of the facility, but they simply didn’t listen,” Rugege explained.
She said the right to dignity of the patients, those who died and those who survived as well as their families, was violated by the government.
Each claimant of the Esidimeni tragedy is to be paid in excess of R1 million for constitutional damages for the violation of their human rights.
In addition, R200 000 is to be paid by the government – R20 000 for funeral expenses and R180 000 for the shock and trauma endured by the families.
Moseneke also ordered that a remembrance monument be erected at a public place to remind future generations of the importance of the case and of the plight of mental healthcare users.
Section27 welcomed the findings but also urged South Africans to actively aim to ensure that human rights work for everyone, including the vulnerable.
“There is an obligation on the state as well as other actors in society to ensure the protection of the most vulnerable.
“Mental healthcare users’ rights had been violated, including the fundamental right to human dignity, which is a cornerstone of the constitution and of our democracy.”
They ignored the warnings of professionals