Pretoria - Former head of the Gauteng Health Department Dr Barney Selebano has maintained his stance that he was not on the ground and therefore had no idea what was going on with the Life Esidimeni project.
He was being grilled yesterday for the fourth day at the inquest into the deaths of 144 mental health patients who were removed from Life Esidimeni facilities to NGOs.
His views contradicted those of several civil society organisations and the South African Federation for Mental Health, who voiced their concerns about patients who were dying, starving and were neglected at the NGOs which were not equipped to take care of them.
Advocate Nasreen Rajab-Budlender, on behalf of the families of 44 of the patients who died, confronted Selebano yesterday about a letter sent to him by the South African Depression and Anxiety Group in June 2016 in which it raised its concerns about these patients at the NGOs.
The letter stated clearly that patients were dying and starving and that they were subjected to dire conditions.
It called for Selebano’s intervention as head of the department. Asked what he had done about these concerns, Selebano said he had replied to the organisation that his colleagues would engage with its representatives on the issue.
“But you were the head of the department and a stakeholder tells you what is happening. Did you not do anything? Did you at least raise it with the MEC for Health in Gauteng, Qedani Mahlangu?” Rajab-Budlender asked.
Selebano said he could not recall.
He responded that it could not have been expected of him to go to the NGOs to find out what the situation was.
“There are colleagues who deal with these things,” he said. He had asked the project leader, Levy Mosenogi, to give him a status report, he added.
Judge Mmonoa Teffo asked Selebano whether he had ever followed up on the concerns raised by the organisation at the time. “You said there were people who had to deal with this… Did you ever follow it up? Did they ever give you a report?” the judge said.
Selebano said he could not remember. “It is possible that we had discussed it, but I cannot remember.”
He is, meanwhile, expected to still be cross-examined by other stakeholders in the inquest proceedings. Former Gauteng mental health director Makgabo Manamela is expected to take the hot seat next.
She was due to start her evidence last week – before Selebano – but she issued the court with a doctor’s letter which stated that she was booked off for a week.
The Life Esidimeni tragedy began to unfold in October 2015 when the Gauteng Health Department decided to terminate a long-standing contract with the Life Esidimeni Health Care Centre.
This resulted in the transfer of more than 1 400 mental health patients to NGOs, some of which were not equipped to cater for their needs.
The patients died the following year between March and December – mostly of neglect and starvation.
The families and loved ones of the patients who died are pinning their hopes on a recommendation by Judge Teffo that those involved in the tragedy should face possible criminal charges.
The judge is tasked only with making recommendations. The prosecuting authority will have to decide who should be charged and the possible charges.
Pretoria News