Police investigate 115 Esidimeni deaths but post mortem reports still awaited

3 August 2017

Police are investigating the deaths of 115 Esidimeni mental health patients but are still waiting for post mortem reports from the Gauteng Health Department.

This is revealed by Community Safety MEC Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

According to Gauteng Police Commissioner Deliwe de Lange "the cases are investigated by a provincial team in conjunction with the Senior Public Prosecutor of Pretoria and the Director of Public Prosecutions. All cases are being centralized by the DPP and will be managed by the Provincial Investigation Unit."

According to the Health Department, 115 deaths were reported and 37 inquest dockets and 73 enquirer files are being investigated.

This is the first confirmation of the real number of deaths since the Health Ombudsman first reported 94 deaths and speculated that there were more than 100 deaths.

I am disappointed that post mortem reports are still awaited from the Health Department as this is critical evidence. These reports were surely done last year when unnatural deaths were suspected, so what is delaying the handover to the police?

The Gauteng Health Department needs to account for the delayed post mortem reports as we need justice for the Esidimeni victims as soon as possible.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, 3 August 2017