The man tasked with leading the Life Esidimeni project, in terms of which a number of mental health patients had to be moved to alternative facilities, said he had wanted to stop the process but had no power to do so.
News24 reports that Gauteng Department of Health Chief Planning Director Levy Mosenogi was being cross-examined in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) on Tuesday this week (16 November), after its resumption on Monday, at the inquest to determine whether anyone should be held criminally liable for the death of 144 patients after they were moved to ill-equipped NGOs. Gauteng Health wanted to close the Baneng Care Centre, along with other Life Esidimeni facilities. But Mosenogi said he asked that the closure be postponed for at least a year.
“The Baneng situation is different because there were severely disabled people (there) who would be lying in bed and cannot wake up. Because of what I saw in Baneng, it reflected because my younger brother was also admitted as severely disabled in Gelukspan District Hospital."
He became emotional when he told the court he had no powers to stop the project. He said: "The pressure was that people were already resigning from Life Esidimeni – senior staff. Basically, we were going to be left in the lurch if I resigned myself. It (the project) would have proceeded, and it might have been worse. I thought it was important I continue with the work and intervene as much as I could. I didn't have the power to stop it."
He said people who could have stopped the project were former MEC Qedani Mahlangu and her executive team.
On Monday, Mosenogi had testified that he wrote a letter to Mahlangu when he realised that the number of beds wasn't real, but projected. He asked for the project to be postponed by between six months and a year. Mahlangu granted him a three-month extension.
Earlier on Monday, the former Deputy DG of Gauteng Health Dr Richard Lebethe had concluded his testimony by stating: “There were no lines between the project and the general running of the programmes of the department. I wasn’t operational in this project, but where I came in was as a member of the executive from time to time.”
Mosenogi had said he expected that any “challenges and problems” would be brought up in the project meetings held from time to time. The presentation on 26 January 2016 “was highlighting what has been done in terms of the mental healthcare unit and the NGOs that are there”.
Daily Maverick reports he denied the report confirmed readiness. He said that his job meant that after receiving feedback from the teams, he would sit with Dr Makgabo Manamela, director of mental health at the GDoH at the time, and compile a report, which would be presented to the executive. He said he realised by 12 February that it would not be possible to move all the mental healthcare patients by 31 March 2016 as envisaged. He said he had written to Mahlangu while she was on leave to alert her that they would need an extension of six to 12 months to complete the project.
However, the inquest heard that it is Mahlangu’s evidence that when she met Mosenogi in person after the email correspondence, he said a three-month extension would be sufficient.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Buck-passing at Life Esidimeni inquest
Life Esidimeni inquest: one nurse to 40 patients
Life Esidimeni deaths: ‘Not the fault of Health MEC’
Asset Forfeiture Unit seizes property bought with funds ‘diverted from Life Esidimeni’