Cancelling Life Esidimeni project was not wrong, says Mahlangu
24 January 2018
Johannesburg – Former Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu says she believes that the decision to cancel the Life Esidimeni contract was not wrong.
"What went wrong is the implementation or the execution of the project," she said on Wednesday.
Mahlangu was testifying during her second day at the Life Esidimeni arbitration hearing in Parktown, Johannesburg.
She told the hearing that she accepted that she had a political responsibility to protect the patients from harm.
She said she also accepted that the department's conduct was inconsistent with the Constitution and the law.
However, Mahlangu would not accept that the cost-cutting exercise her department undertook had resulted in the death of 143 mentally ill patients.
"I wouldn't know who died of what...in my documents we sent to the ombudsman we presented the case numbers which were opened [at] the police station."
She said the deaths were inconclusive.
Adila Hassim, the advocate for Section 27, also quizzed her about taking patients to Weskoppies and Sterkfontein psychiatric facilities.
Hassim said it would have would have cost "six times as much" to take care of patients, defeating the point of the cost-cutting exercise.
Mahlangu said the institutions are academic hospitals.
She added that it would cost more for the "quality care" that patients would receive at Weskoppies and Sterkfontein, as opposed to the NGOs.
She also told the hearing the reason she tendered her resignation in 2016 was because she wanted to take political responsibility.
"Families lost their loved ones... and this will forever linger in my mind," she said.
Asked if she wasn't aware of concerns raised by health professionals before terminating the Life Esidimeni contract, Mahlangu said she received a letter in June 2015, which raised concerns.
She said she asked the head of department to have a look at it and deal with the concerns which she said were urgent.
"At no stage was I made aware that the HOD has reported to the premier that there is anything he did not like... at no stage was I aware that the HOD was afraid of me."
She said she would have stopped the Life Esidimeni project if she had all the information. News24
Update:
#LifeEsidimeni: I was not aware patients were dying, says Mahlangu
Johannesburg – Former Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu has told the Life Esidimeni arbitration hearing that she was never aware that patients were dying.
"If I was made aware...we would not be sitting here today. That I can assure you," she said during her second day of testimony in Parktown, Johannesburg, on Wednesday.
Mahlangu, who often struggled to answer questions, shifted the blame onto her subordinates.
She said that had she been aware, she would have done her best to ensure that patients who were moved from Life Esidimeni facilities were placed in well-equipped NGOs.
She pleaded with former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke to answer some of the questions directed at her on Thursday, in order to "refresh" her memory.
When Moseneke asked why Mahlangu did not take precautions to ensure that NGOs were properly capacitated before sending patients there, she said she tried her best.
'I don't know how a licence works'
"You and the collective decided to close down, the hospital is full, you visit and find unsatisfactory conditions at Cullinan and NGOs. Why didn't you order closure or that they move to better places?" Moseneke asked.
Mahlangu replied that she had requested for patients to be moved to better facilities, and expected officials to do so after instructing them.
But she conceded that she does not remember asking to see a licence when visiting one of the NGOs, Precious Angels.
"I don't know how a licence works," Mahlangu said.
Some of the NGOs to which patients were transferred did not have licences. She also said she knew nothing about the NGOs.
Advocate Adila Hassim, representing Section 27, also grilled Mahlangu for not taking patients to safer places of care.
'I know myself to be a very warm person'
But the former MEC said it was the responsibility of officials of government who are qualified.
Asked who she would charge for the Life Esidimeni tragedy, Mahlangu said she would charge Levy Mosenogi, who was the head of the project which led to the death of 143 mentally ill patients, former head of mental health Makgabo Manamela and former head of department Barney Selebano.
Moseneke also pressed her on why she rushed the project. He asked what the urgency was that Mahlangu had to "slam the door behind patients?"
"Information I had at my disposal did not suggest that things would go horribly wrong," she replied.
Earlier, Mahlangu said she considered herself a "warm" person and did not understand why some officials claimed they were afraid of her.
"I don't know why all of a sudden they would be scared of me. I know myself to be a very warm person."
When Mahlangu described herself as warm, some members of the public in the crowd responded with disbelief and said she was dishonest.
Mosenogi was not the only official who claimed to fear Mahlangu.
Selebano previously testified that he was afraid to stand up to her after he continued acting in contravention of the rights of mentally ill patients under her instruction.
"I didn't stand up that time, I wish I had... I doubt it would have gotten any better results. Probably, we would still have walked this tragic road," he said at the time.
