Life Esidimeni inquest: Mahlangu says she couldn't have foreseen the tragedy
Psychiatric specialists and civil society organisations were among the first to caution Qedani Mahlangu about the perceived risks of prematurely terminating the contract.
FILE: Former Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu gives testimony at the Esidimeni arbitration hearing in Johannesburg on 22 January 2018. Picture: Sethembiso Zulu/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - Former Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu said that she couldn't have known that the Life Esidimeni transfer project would end in tragedy.
Mahlangu appeared before the Pretoria High Court to give testimony in the Life Esidimeni inquest for a second day.
The inquest is set to determine if anyone should be held criminally liable for the death of 144 mental health patients who were moved from the Esidimeni psychiatric hospital to ill-equipped NGOs in the province.
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Mahlangu disputed previous witness testimony that the decision to terminate the Life Esidimeni contract was taken in haste.
Psychiatric specialists and some civil society organisations were among the first to caution Mahlangu about the perceived risks of prematurely terminating the contract.
The former head of department, Barney Selebano, conceded in his testimony that expert warnings against the project were ignored.
The decision that the contract would end in March 2016 was announced in October the year before.
But a further three-month grace period was given by the department to allow for the process to conclude.
Mahlangu said that she was led to believe by a competent team in the department that this would be sufficient.
"There was never an indication on anyone that the further three-month extension would not be sufficient."
Mahlangu further denied that no due diligence was done on her part, even though she admitted that she left much of the work to be done by highly skilled and experienced experts.