Life Esidimeni: Families of victims await inquest judgment

JOHANNESBURG - Almost a decade after 144 mental health patients died under harrowing circumstances, the families of the victims are only hours away from knowing if justice will be served.

On Wednesday, the Pretoria High Court will hand down judgment in the Life Esidimeni inquest, which is set to determine if anyone should be held criminally liable for the deaths.

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After a damning report by then-Health Ombudsman, Malegapuru Makgoba, an emotionally-charged arbitration process and gruelling testimony at the inquest, it's finally D-day for the families of the Life Esidimeni victims.

In 2017, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) received over 140 inquiry dockets regarding the matter.

The acting director of public prosecutions then assigned a team of four lawyers to work closely with investigators in collecting more information to build a solid case.

At the time, the NPA didn’t believe it had enough evidence to prove causation of death.

There also wasn’t enough to pin the deaths on the actions of some of the government officials that made the final call to terminate the Life Esidimeni contract and move patients from the private psychiatric facility to ill-equipped NGOs.

The court is now expected to determine if there is grounds to hold former Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu and the former head of the mental health directorate, Makgabo Manamela, accountable for the tragedy.