EDITORIAL | No more delays. Life Esidimeni families deserve justice

Six years after Christine Nxumalo first raised the flag on the death of her sister Virginia Machpelah, the families of those who died when government ended its contract with Life Esidimeni are still waiting for answers.

And while they are in heartbreaking purgatory, SA is still waiting for those behind the 143 deaths to be held accountable.

The hearings resumed on Monday in the Pretoria high court and continue this week.

Called the Mental Health Marathon Project, this was a race to the death, and one which could have been prevented had the Gauteng health department listened to the advice of NGOs.

For those distraught family members, the sense that nobody will be held accountable will be looming large.

Six months ago, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) started a formal inquiry into the deaths of the psychiatric patients. The slow pace of the inquiry — which stalled several times — lends to the feeling that any hope of justice for those who lost their loved ones will never materialise.

Like the investigation, the events leading up to the patients deaths happened in slow motion.

The project was announced in 2015 by Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu, who said the termination of the contract with the private healthcare provider was to save money — a slap in the face for many, when government believed the care of society’s most vulnerable to be an unaffordable expense in the context of billions of rand in irregular expenditure reported in the same financial year.

The decision was also taken, SA was told, to enact a policy of deinstitutionalising psychiatric patients. This was a concept introduced to Western society in the 19th century after the US public found out about the shocking care of people with psychiatric disabilities. Deinstitutionalising meant patients were moved from prison-like dwellings to homes which specialised in their care.

With the introduction of psychiatric drugs such as chlorpromazine — first used as an antipsychotic in 1952 — patients no longer needed to stay in institutions for the remainder of their lives. Deinstitutionalising therefore also refers to fewer patients being placed in mental health facilities as medicated patients could potentially be reintroduced to their communities, thinning out the populations in these facilities. 

But the Mental Health Marathon Project did the opposite. Instead of specialised care, patients were transferred to facilities unfit for purpose and unable to provide for them. That these patients were in specialised care in the first place should have signalled to the government that they could not be medicated and moved.

The result was that people died, some in ways unimaginable, such as starvation or hypothermia. These were preventable deaths, and those who took the decisions should be held accountable.

In February 2017, a report from the health ombud was scathing in its findings against Mahlangu and two senior officials in the department. Mahlangu resigned on the eve of the release of the report, and her two subordinates were to face disciplinary action.

In March 2018, justice Dikgang Moseneke ordered the state to pay costs and damages to the families of deceased patients.

In December that year, Mahlangu was instructed to step down from participating in the Gauteng ANC provincial executive committee (PEC).

But years later, there have been no prosecutions. For those distraught family members, the sense that nobody will be held accountable must be looming large.

Justice delayed is justice denied. The families of those who died in the Life Esidimeni move have not had justice in fast approaching seven years. The ongoing inquiry needs to change that. Delays are no longer acceptable. The time is for answers, and then action.