In a case reminiscent of the Life Esidimeni tragedy, another instance of the disdain shown to intellectually and physically disabled people has emerged in Mpumalanga, this time by NGO Sunfield Home Fortuna in Balfour, home to around 70 patients.
In efforts to display its displeasure with government subsidies, Sunfield, which is unlicensed, according to the Human Rights Commission, paraded some of its patients at the local offices of the provincial Department of Social Development (DSD).
About 36 of the patients are state-subsidised by the department, but with the monthly subsidy of R1 984 per patient not having been increased since 2008, tensions have erupted between the NGO and the department.
BusinessLIVE reports that the public parade of patients was slammed by Mpumalanga High Court Acting Judge N Mazibuko.
“Sunfield’s conduct is a serious violation of the patients’ rights to dignity, who, with their different disabilities, physical and intellectual, were taken to an office where officials and other people (the public) could not have been aware of their sickness or condition.
“The public’s reaction to seeing the patients … is safer left to the imagination,” Mazibuko said.
“It is disappointing that the patients were exposed to such treatment by the facility … delegated by the DSD to care for them.
“A human being cannot be used as a tool to exert pressure or for negotiation. It does not matter under what circumstances they find themselves.”
Mazibuko castigated the DSD and the Health Department for not clamping down sooner.
“The DSD should have realised that the patients’ welfare at Sunfield was no longer protected, necessitating their prompt removal and placement in a facility where they would be treated with respect and dignity,” reads the judgment.
The two departments were ordered to re-screen all state-subsidised residents in other facilities “with the same or similar” circumstances as those at Sunfield, across Mpumalanga, by 4 May, to “ensure proper classification, allocation and accommodation to an appropriate facility in terms of Mental Healthcare Act guidelines”.
In the Life Esidimeni scandal, the transfer of nearly 2 000 mental health patients into unlicensed NGOs led to the deaths of 144 people. A report later found that many of the deaths were caused by reasons other than “mental health”, and that all 27 NGOs to which people were relocated from Life Esidimeni were operating with invalid licences.
Sunfield, too, is an unlicensed NGO, and, according to the Human Rights Commission, is not competent to accommodate people with mental and intellectual disabilities.
‘Lack of oversight’
“Of great concern … is the submission by the DSD that Sunfield is not licensed to accommodate people with mental and intellectual disabilities, yet it is at present accommodating such patients,” the HRC said in a report.
“This points to a lack of oversight, nullity of monitoring or inspection … to ensure compliance with the norms and standards required … It may also be indicative of the lack of auditing by the department, as required by the guidelines.”
The commission also raised concerns about Sunfield not keeping comprehensive files on patients.
Sunfield did not respond to requests for comment and neither did the DSD in Mpumalanga.
Increase
The home, with AfriForum’s help, managed to get a court order compelling the government to increase the monthly R1 984 per patient subsidy, which has not been raised in 16 years.
The NGO told the court that its monthly operating expense per patient is R7 637. Apart from the R1 984 subsidy, each patient receives a monthly social grant of R1 990, paid directly to Sunfield. This still leaves it with a shortfall of about R3 663.23 per patient.
The relationship between the department and the NGO is governed by a service level agreement, which disintegrated and has not been in place since December 2022 after a dispute.
The department told the court the decision not to increase the subsidy was due to the budget allocated by the Treasury. It said it has continued to show the Treasury its shortfalls and budget pressures to secure additional funding.
Mazibuko ordered that the state-subsidised patients remain at Sunfield until a proper classification has been concluded and the funding issue has been appropriately addressed.
Subsidies
The department was ordered to continue making payments of R1 984 per month per state-subsidised resident to Sunfield until a new service level agreement has been reached, and that such subsidies must be increased from April.
“In the event that the (department) and Sunfield do not agree on the subsidy amount or increase thereof, or any matter, the (department) has to remove and house the patients in an appropriate facility within six weeks,” Mazibuko ordered.
“(The Department of Social Development) will, from1 April 2024, make payment to facilities of the same or similar circumstances as Sunfield … towards the state-subsidised residents’ subsidy in the amount of R7 637.23, or an agreed amount per month per state-subsidised resident.
“An annual increase in the subsidy shall be budgeted for by considering the consumer price index or agreed percentage.”
BusinessLIVE article – Vulnerable patients used as pawns in brawl over subsidies (Open access)
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