DR Richard Lebethe, who is the former acting deputy director general for clinical services in the Gauteng Health Department, has been accused of lying under oath.
Acting on behalf of four families who lost their loved ones during the Life Esidimeni tragedy, Advocate Phyllis Vorster told the Pretoria High Court on Friday that a statement, drafted and signed under oath at the police station by Lebethe, misled the court.
Vorster was referring to a statement by Lebethe following an urgent court application by the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag), in an attempt to stop the department from moving patients from Life Esidimeni.
The application was brought forward in 2015, and the department had to answer before the transfer.
The Gauteng High Court ruled in the department’s favour.
Explaining circumstances in which he signed the documents, Lebethe said head of department Dr Barney Selebano was not available at the time, so he was appointed to act on his behalf.
He said he was not involved in the operational issues and termination of the contract between the department and Life Esidimeni Group, including the transfer of patients, as he was in clinical services.
He said he went through the documents with the department’s legal team and former director of mental health Dr Makgabo Manamela to confirm the facts.
He added that necessary facts were obtained by Manamela from people involved in the project.
Vorster argued that Lebethe lied under oath on having knowledge about the contents of the document.
She said: “You drafted and signed a statement under oath that you have knowledge of the contents. But you testify today, again under oath, that you had no knowledge of the contents.”
Lebethe’s representative Advocate Tiny Seboko said it was unfair to discredit the evidence brought before the court.
However, Vorster insisted that her submission at the end would be that if Sadag’s application was not set aside and adhered to, 144 patients would not have died.
Vorster added that if Lebethe took proper care in the drafting and signing of the statement, the court at that stage would have come to a different conclusion and that would not have led to the tragedy.
Judge Mmonoa Teffo ruled that there was no foundation to what had been put before Lebethe by Vorster.
The inquest aims to establish the possible cause of death of mental health patients who died after they were transferred to ill-equipped NGOs, and whether anyone could be criminally liable.
