Subpoenaed health official wants Esidimeni judge to appear in court

ONE of the leaders behind the Esidimeni tragedy‚ who is refusing to abide by his subpoena to explain himself‚ has filed court papers asking former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke to appear in court.

The former head of the Gauteng health department, Dr Barney Selebano, has been subpoenaed to appear at the Esidimeni hearings on December 4‚ after telling the state he would not come willingly.

Moseneke is the judge at the hearings‚ which aim to give closure to the families of more than 118 mentally ill people who died after being moved to ill-equipped NGOs.

Moseneke has said the hearings will not end until the three people behind the decision to close the Life Esidimeni homes testify. This includes Selebano‚ former MEC Qedani Mahlangu and former director of Mental Health Makgoba Manamela.

State advocate Tebogo Hutamo said yesterday Selebano had filed an urgent interdict in the Johannesburg High Court to set aside the subpoena requiring him to appear.

Hutamo said the court case would be heard on November 28.

Selebano did not cite Section 27 – representatives of the families at the hearings – in his application‚ which he should have done‚ Advocate Adila Hassim told the hearing.

However‚ he cited Moseneke as a respondent in the subpoena. This means the former deputy chief justice‚ once the second-highest judge in the land‚ now has to consult lawyers and appear in court.

“I am cited as a party,” Moseneke said to much laughter.

“I might have to shut this [hearing] down and go fight this case in court‚” he said to further chuckles.

Lawyer Ulrich Roux‚ who is not involved in the process‚ said that, in theory, any subpoena could be reviewed in court.

Manamela‚ who moved patients into crowded NGOs‚ rejected her first subpoena to appear last week‚ because there was a minor problem with its date. She had now been subpoenaed to appear on November 20 and had not yet objected‚ Hassim told the hearing. Mahlangu is in London. Hutamo said he was in conversations with Mahlangu’s new lawyers about her testifying this month.

However‚ he said the state could not serve a subpoena on Mahlangu‚ because it did not know her residential address in England.

Her lawyer, Angelo Christophorou, said at the weekend that Mahlangu was studying at the University of Bedfordshire‚ but it emerged yesterday that she was studying at the Global Banking School in London and had been suspended.