I will never accept my son's death‚ says mother of Life Esidimeni victim

A mother gave a heart-rending account at the Life Esidimeni arbitration hearing on Thursday of how her son’s health deteriorated in the hands of a nongovernmental organisation.

Miriam Monyane said she will never accept the death of her son‚ Thabo‚ who died in August last year.

Thabo was one of the patients that were transferred from the Cullinan Care Rehabilitation Centre (CCRC) for the profoundly and severely intellectually challenged to the Anchor Care Centre and Siyabadinga situated inside the Cullinan facility in order to accommodate new patients.

“What troubles my soul is that they did not tell us what happened to our children. I won’t accept it. I have lost. When they realised that people are dying‚ why did they not do anything to stop it happening again?” Monyane questioned.

Thabo was at CCRC for 11 years and died within two months after being transferred to Siyabadinga.

“My child’s health deteriorated after being transferred to Siyabadinga. I had not seen him for just less than a month and then I got a call from the centre telling me that Thabo was sick. When I went to visit him later that night the nurses wheeled him to me in his bed. When I opened the blanket he was so thin. Then we took him home‚” said Monyane.

The mother told the hearing that she found a wound on her son’s left thigh.

“The next morning I took him to the hospital and the doctor told me my son won’t live. He said that he showed symptoms of dehydration and a lack of food. The doctor said that this can happen over a few days or a longer period‚” said Monyane. Thabo died in the hospital after being deprived of water‚ medication and proper care at Siyabadinga‚ she said.

On Wednesday‚ Dikeledi Manaka‚ a psychiatric nurse and quality assurance manager at CCRC‚ told the arbitration that she could not save the lives of patients due to fear of being insubordinate towards top management.

The transfer of patients to NGOs happened because Manaka told the hearing that she was following orders from her CEO‚ a Ms Nyatlo‚ who was following orders from Dr Makgoba Manamela‚ Gauteng’s former Director-General of Health who‚ in turn‚ was following orders from Qedani Mahlangu‚ former Gauteng MEC for Health.

Four patients died at Siyabadinga and five at Anchor while 11 died at CCRC.