DA wants urgent probe into top officials who were warned about danger in case of Esidimeni 94

The Democratic Alliance has called for an urgent investigation into top officials who were warned about the danger in the transfer of mentally ill patients from Life Healthcare Esidimeni to mostly unlicensed NGOs which resulted in 94 deaths.

DA health spokesman Dr Wilmot James said on Sunday that while Health Ombudsman Malegapuru Makgoba had fingered former Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu and some Gauteng provincial officials for their role in the tragedy‚ material the DA had implicated the National Department of Health and the Premier’s Office.

Responsibility for the tragedy‚ he said‚ radiated wider than Gauteng health.

“Today I wrote to Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi to request that he launches an urgent investigation into why it is that‚ despite the fact that the Director-General (DG) Ms MP Matsoso of the National Department of Health being alerted – as far back as January 2016 – that the de-institutionalisation of mental patients from Germiston’s Waverley Care Centre would turn into a disaster‚ as it has‚ the Department did not avert the deaths not only at Waverley‚ but at all the other institutions in which 94 mentally challenged South Africans tragically died‚” James said.

He said the DA was in possession of a letter from the 2016 occupational therapy class at the University of the Witwatersrand in which they declared that they were “deeply aggrieved by news of the closure of the Waverley Care Centre and are writing with the hope that the closing of this crucial facility may be prevented”.

“As health professionals in training‚ their word that ‘these patients‚ who are already vulnerable‚ will be at risk of abuse and injury should they be discharged from Waverley’ carried a great measure of credibility‚” James stated.

The letter was addressed to Mahlangu‚ Gauteng Premier David Makhura‚ the National DG for Health‚ MP Matsoso‚ and the former Deputy DG for Health‚ Dr Terence Carter‚ he said.

“The Minister must get to the bottom of how this avertable tragedy could have been avoided‚ especially considering that the responsible officials had been warned by the Wits occupational therapy class – health professionals in training with no axe to grind. As DGs have an obligation to report to Ministers‚ questions should be directed at the Minister Motsoaledi for his role in this tragedy‚” James added.