Four years on, a joint hearing into Life Esidimeni deaths is set to be conducted
5 February 2020
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola has acceded to a request by the National Prosecuting Authority that a joint hearing be conducted into the Life Esidimeni deaths, and has requested that Gauteng Judge President Dunstan Mlambo designate a judge to preside over an inquest in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.
This comes after the acting director of public prosecutions in Gauteng, advocate George Baloyi, referred the docket for a formal inquest in September, more than three years after the Life Esidimeni tragedy.
Investigators were unable to gather enough evidence to bring charges against anyone linked to the deaths in 144 cases it probed.
In total, 144 psychiatric patients died, many of starvation and neglect, after the Gauteng health department cancelled its outsourced contract with Life Esidimeni to save money, transferring thousands of patients out of the facility.