FORMER Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu presented an inaccurate number of deaths of Life Esidimeni mental health patients at the Gauteng Legislature, than the actual figure, the Life Esidimeni Inquest heard on Wednesday, 30 November.
In September 2016, Mahlangu reported that there were 34 deaths of mental health patients who had been transferred from Life Esidimeni facilities, when the actual number, at the time, was sitting at 84.
Advocate Adila Hassim, representing affected families, asked the former head of mental health in the Gauteng health department, Dr Makgabo Manamela, who provided Mahlangu with inaccurate figures.
Through an interpreter, Manamela said a number of people were involved.
She said she compiled the figures and gave them to the former head of department at Gauteng health, Dr Barney Selebano, who handed them over to Mahlangu.
Manamela said: “I also received the information from district level and they were also dependent on NGOs to provide them with information.”
During her cross-examination, Manamela agreed that at the time, the department had already received many complaints and concerns from various organisations, such as the South African Depression and Anxiety Group as well as medical experts within the department about the project.
But Manamela insisted that her staff checked on the patients’ well-being after the transfer, even after deaths had occurred.
Hassim asked Manamela why she moved the patients, even after she saw it was “impractical” to do so based on the low number of available beds.
Manamela said the Life Esidimeni Marathon Project was running smoothly until the arrival of patients at NGOs.
