Former Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi wanted to shut down the NGOs where mental health patients were dying, the inquest into the deaths of 141 patients in the Life Esidimeni tragedy heard this week.
This was the testimony by Gauteng Health former head of department Dr Tiego “Barney” Selebano, who also denied that the NGOs to where the patients were transferred and where they died, were only licensed after the tragedy.
The psychiatric patients died of hunger, dehydration and neglect after the botched transfer project, reports EWN. Takalani House in Soweto, Mosego House in Krugersdorp, Precious Angels in Atteridgeville and the Cullinan Care and Rehabilitation Centre, are among the facilities linked to the 2016 deaths.
Selebano denied that licences were issued in a cover-up after the deaths, adding that the former head of mental health service, Dr Makgabo Manamela, had signed off on these before the patients were moved.
Selebano was the first of three senior managers implicated in the tragic project to take the stand at the inquest, the trio seen as the leaders responsible for the removal of 2 000 mental healthcare patients from the facilities to ill-equipped NGOs in a cost-saving exercise. The others were Manamela and former Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu.
Last week, Judge Mmonoa Teffo issued a warrant of arrest for Manamela for failing to appear at the inquest because of ill health three times in a row. It was withdrawn yesterday when she finally made an appearance in court.
Selebano said he had only found out from media reports and the Gauteng legislature in August 2016 that patients who had been moved to NGOs were dying, reports News24, and he had then met Mahlangu and senior managers to discuss the issue.
The department also held a meeting with former community safety MEC Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane and the police. “We agreed that we must have post-mortems of all the patients.”
At the same time, Selebano said, he was in constant contact with Motsoaledi (now Minister of Home Affairs), who urged him to shut down the NGOs. “I told him to talk to the MEC, to not instruct me. ‘You must tell the MEC to instruct me’.”
News24 reports that he, Mahlangu and other managers went to Tshwane and moved all patients from the NGOs to hospitals. He did the same thing in Soweto.
“Motsoaledi and I were talking constantly … the gist was, ‘Barney, you are a doctor. You have patients passing away. It will not go well for the department, for the country. You’ve got to remove all those patients’.
“He told me to close Cullinan (care and rehabilitation centre). I told him I don’t have those powers. ‘You can close it with the Premier (David Makhura); I can’t do it’. But I went there nevertheless … and corrected where I could.”
Selebano said Motsoaledi told him: “Your MEC is not a doctor. She may not understand. I said, I hear you, Minister, and I see your point, but you have to speak to the MEC. I can’t. I report to the MEC. They are politicians, both of them.”
Selebano said the project came from the Gauteng Cabinet led by Makhura. It was then moved to the provincial budget council and to the department for implementation.
"As the head of administration, when the decision came, we sat together … and a decision was taken that I must terminate the contract. It was a decision taken by the Gauteng team." He added that Manamela had prepared the termination plan.
At the inquest on Tuesday, reports Pretoria News, Selebano apologised to the patients’ families, saying that as a leader, he accepted accountability.
‘This is still a painful episode in my life,” he told Teffo.
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 AfriForum 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 from Vorster, representing the families of four of the victims, who told Selebano that various concerns had been raised about the haste with which the patients were being moved to NGOs, and if these concerns had been taken seriously, the tragedy could have been avoided.
Selebano, however, maintained he did not take the decision to move the patients. The decision to cancel the Life Esidimeni contract was discussed by the provincial Cabinet after a series of meetings and the ultimate decision was made at the Premier’s budget council. However, he did sign the letter terminating Life Esidimeni’s contract, he conceded.
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 had suggested the project be postponed for a year.
Selebano said these concerns were discussed at the Premier’s budget council, and the council took the decision to postpone the move for four months. Most of the decisions regarding the project were in fact made during the council sitting, he added.
He said when he heard around August 2016 that some patients who were moved to the NGOs had died, and Motsoaledi had asked him to close those facilities to prevent further deaths, he then went to the NGOS to tell them 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 of them, 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,” he responded.
The inquest continues.
EWN article – Life Esidimeni inquest: NGOs were licenced to operate, says Selebano (Open access)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Dozens of former Life Esidimeni patients remain missing
No inspections or process followed, says ex-Life Esidimeni official
Life Esidimeni deaths: ‘Not the fault of Health MEC’