Pretoria - Former head of the Gauteng Department of Health, Dr Barney Selebano, yesterday apologised to the families of the 144 mental health patients who died in 2016 when they were transferred from Life Esidimeni facilities to NGOs which were not equipped to deal with them.
Taking the stand for the second day in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, inquest hearing into the deaths of these patients, Selebano said as a leader he accepted accountability for what happened and as such, he once again apologised to the families.
“Loss of life is not easy. The families who lost loved ones are in pain … I still apologise today. This is still a painful episode in my life,” Selebano told Judge Mmonoa Teffo.
He earlier also apologised to the families during arbitration proceedings.
Selebano, who was head of department during the transfer of the patients from Life Esidimeni care facilities to the various NGOs across the province in 2016, was also the person who signed the termination letter with Life Esidimeni.
His advocate, Craig Watt-Pringle SC, however, made it clear that his client was not “on the ground” and he did not know what happened at the bottom level. The advocate repeatedly objected to the relevance of advocate Phyllis Vorster’s questions.
He said it would not assist the court in deciding who, on the face of it, could possibly be held criminally responsible for the deaths.
Selebano faced tough questions yesterday from AfriForum’s advocate Vorster, who is representing the families of four of the victims. She told Selebano several times: “I put it to you that the project had failed.”
Vorster also told Selebano that various concerns were raised about the haste in which the patients were being moved to NGOs, and if these concerns were taken seriously, the tragedy could have been avoided.
Selebano, however, maintained that he did not take the decision to move the patients. The decision to cancel the Life Esidimeni contract was discussed by the provincial cabinet following a series of meetings and the ultimate decision was made at the premier’s budget council. He, however, did sign the letter terminating Life Esidimeni’s contract, he said.
Vorster referred to a letter written by Life Esidimeni project leader, Levy Mosenogi, in which he had raised his concerns about the haste in which the patients were being moved.
Mosenogi suggested that the project should be postponed for a year.
Selebano said these concerns were at length discussed at the premier’s budget council and the decision was taken by the council, not him, to postpone the move for four months. Most of the decisions regarding the project were in fact made during the council sitting, he said.
Vorster asked Selebano whether there would have been a different outcome if Mosenogi’s concerns were adhered to and the project was postponed for a year. Selebano responded: “I do not know.”
“I will argue that nothing was done about these concerns raised,” Vorster said.
She then wanted to know whether Watt-Pringle was instructed to represent Selebano during these proceedings by the department or whether by Selebano in his private capacity. Watt-Pringle vehemently objected to this, and the judge ordered that there was no need to answer this question.
Selebano said when he heard around August 2016 that some patients who were moved to the NGOs had died, he had no idea what had happened. “I have more knowledge now of what transpired,” he said.
According to him, the then minister of health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, asked him to close these NGOs in order to prevent further deaths.
He said he went to the NGOs to inform them that the patients were being moved.
Asked by Vorster in what state these patients were who remained at the facilities and had to be moved, Selebano said he never saw any patients, as he simply went there to give the instruction.
He conceded to a statement by Vorster that the department of health was the guardian of the patients. “I suppose it is so,” Selebano responded.
Watt-Pringle, in one of his many objections of the day, said the department earlier conceded liability and that Selebano conceded that things went wrong.
“That is what he had apologised for. But he does not know what happened … What caused their deaths,” he said.
The inquest is proceeding.
Pretoria News