The Star E-dition

‘I just want to know why they did this’

ZELDA VENTER zelda.venter@inl.co.za

“THEY have taken the best part of my life away. They robbed me of a chance to grow old with my Freddie. Before I die I just want to know why they did this.”

These are the words of Maria Colitz, one of the many family members who are closely following the Life Esidimeni inquest that kicked off via virtual proceedings in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, this week.

Her husband is among the 144 mental healthcare patients who died five years ago after they were hastily moved from the Life Esidimeni care facility to NGOS that were ill equipped to house them.

Colitz and the other family members want to know how their loved ones died. They also want those whose actions led to their death to be held accountable.

While the inquest is not a criminal procedure, the court will hear the evidence of a host of witnesses, including government officials who were instrumental in moving the patients, mostly during 2016.

Judge Mmonoa Teffo will, at the end of the proceedings, rule who, if anyone, can be held responsible for the deaths.

It will then be up to the National Prosecuting Authority to institute criminal charges, which can range from culpable homicide to assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm.

This week saw a slow start to the proceedings, with only two witnesses who had given evidence.

The judge postponed the proceedings earlier in the week following concerns about the legal representation of potentially implicated people and a possible conflict of interest as some are being represented by the same legal team, instructed by the State.

When the matter resumed yesterday, a host of people on the State’s witness list, including various representatives of the NGOS where the patients were moved to and in whose care they had died, each appointed lawyers to watch over their interests.

Witnesses who may implicate them in their main evidence will be questioned by their appointed lawyers.

Officials such as former Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu, the former head of the department Dr Barney Selebano and the then director of mental health Dr Makgoba Manamela had legal representation from the start, as their names are expected to feature prominently during the inquest.

Judge Teffo made it clear that those who could be affected by the hearing should be legally represented.

She postponed the proceedings for a week on the request of the various lawyers who wanted to familiarise themselves with all the facts.

Former Life Esidimeni managing director Dr Morgan Mkhatshwa earlier this week testified that he had warned the Gauteng Health Department that the hasty and haphazard manner in which they wanted to move the patients as a cost-saving effort could have disastrous consequences.

It is claimed that the 144 patients died of neglect and starvation when they were moved to unlicensed NGOS scattered across the province.

The inquest kicked off with Mahlangu, whose name was in the past frequently mentioned in connection with the tragedy, blaming Premier David Makhura for the fact that the patients were moved.

The families, meanwhile, just want answers as many have no idea how their loved ones died.

Colitz recalled that her husband of 40 years was “charming and treated her like a real lady”.

He suffered from severe depression and, later in life, needed full-time care.

In her story posted along with others on the special memorial set up by the South African Depression and Anxiety Group and other NGOS in memory of those who had died, Colitz’s widow said he had lived at Life Esidimeni Randfontein for three years.

In January 2016 she was told that he had been moved to an NGO called Mosego. He died there eight months later.

The staff often tried to prevent her from going inside and seeing Freddie.

In mid-july, a nurse at Mosego called Maria and told her: "You better come now because your husband is about to die.”

"When I finally got in and saw him I nearly got a heart attack. He couldn't walk. He had bruises on his head, nose, arms and feet.

“I begged them to put him in the hospital.

“When his son called them the next day they said to him, don't you know that he is dead? I just want to know why they did this,” she said.

The inquest will resume on August

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Metro

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2021-07-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-07-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thestar.pressreader.com/article/281642488198169

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