Gauteng Premier must resign for failure to prevent 94 patient deaths

2 February 2017

Gauteng Premier David Makhura cannot escape accountability for the horrifying deaths of at least 94 mental health patients as revealed by Health Ombudsman Malegapuru Makgoba.

He should have acted decisively last year when it was first disclosed on 13 September that 36 patients had died in unsuitable NGOs after they were transferred there from Life Healthcare Esidimeni.

There was no need to wait for the findings of the Health Ombud's report as there was enough evidence for everyone to see that things had gone disastrously wrong.

There were manifold reports in the media, two court cases and demonstrations by the relatives of deceased mental health patients.

Makhura was quick to remove former Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation MEC Molebatse Bopape in October 2015 before there was a forensic report on corruption allegations in her department. He had no compunction in acting swiftly to remove Bopape in a far less serious matter because she was not a political ally.

But Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu was an ANC heavyweight, so she was protected until it became inevitable that she would have to resign.

Lives could have been saved if the Premier had acted earlier by firing Mahlangu and appointing a new MEC to oversee the transfer of patients from unlicensed NGOs to reputable institutions, which is only happening now after the Ombud's report.

But the Premier is also implicated in the disastrous decision to cancel the contract with Life Healthcare Esidimeni and transfer more than a thousand patients to NGOs.

This was a collective provincial cabinet decision and was not properly monitored by the Premier's Office which should have picked up the problems early in the transfer process.

On page 30 of the Ombud's report the Head of the Gauteng Health Department Dr Barney Selebano claims that the "decision to start deinstitutionalization of mental health care users from LE was undertaken in the Office of the Premier of Gauteng, the Honourable David Makhura, together with the HoD".

The report does say that it was in the Premier's Office and not by the Premier that the decision was taken, but the Premier is accountable for his own office.

The appropriate political accountability would be for Makhura to resign as his poor judgement and inaction has led to more deaths than those who died at Marikana.

Qedani Mahlangu's resignation is not enough, and criminal charges should be laid against her and all others who are implicated according to evidence.

Makhura has also failed in his duty, exposing the reality that the ANC in Gauteng is no different from the ANC that refuses to hold President Jacob Zuma and others to account.

The 94 deaths of the most vulnerable amongst us is an indelible stain on his administration which falsely claims to be a caring government concerned about the people and not only themselves.

A new start is needed in Gauteng under a new premier who will be genuinely caring and responsive to the people of this province.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, 2 February 2017