By Everson Luhanga
This October, marked as Mental Health Awareness Month, also brings attention to the pressing need for justice for the 144 victims of the Life Esidimeni tragedy.
Nearly a decade after the incident, families of the victims continue their fight for accountability for their family members with mental health conditions who lost their lives due to gross negligence.
On Tuesday, dozens of people, including family members of the victims, marched to the National Prosecuting Authority building in Church Square, Pretoria.
Christine Nxumalo, who is on a committee of victims’ family members, said they organised the march to express their frustration at how the case has been handled.
“We need the NPA to start with the prosecution process of those involved in the deaths of the patients.
“We don’t want to wait another eight years,” Nxumalo said. “It has been three months now since the judgment was passed, and we haven’t heard anything from the NPA.
“Vulnerable people died. Therefore, we need justice.”
She added: “We often call and email them, but they send us from pillar to post. We realised that without pressure, the case would go cold.”
In October 2015, then-Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu ended the contract between the Gauteng Department of Health and Life Esidimeni, a private healthcare provider.
By April 2016, the government had moved hundreds of mental health patients to unlicensed, inadequate NGOs, where neglect and malnutrition became the norm.
In January 2017, a report by Health Ombudsman Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, titled The Life Esidimeni Disaster, confirmed that 144 patients had died under horrifying conditions across these unlicensed facilities.
Justice Dikgang Moseneke was appointed to lead arbitration hearings from October 2017 to March 2018. He condemned the government’s negligence and ordered compensation for the families to cover trauma and funeral costs.
Four years later, in April 2022, the Pretoria High Court began an inquest to determine the cause of the deaths. After two years, in July 2024, Judge Mmonoa Teffo ruled that Mahlangu and Dr Makgabo Manamela were directly responsible for the deaths of nine patients, confirming their roles in a tragedy that claimed 144 lives.
Despite these findings, the NPA has yet to take action against Mahlangu and Manamela, leaving families devastated by the lack of accountability.
Families have called on the NPA to expedite proceedings, prosecute the two officials and any other culpable individuals, and provide regular case updates.
The families united in their demands for justice, send a clear message: “Justice delayed is justice denied.” They say the NPA must act now to restore public confidence and fulfil its duty to the victims and their families.
Pictured above: Dozens of people marched to NPA offices in Pretoria on Tuesday.
Source: Supplied
