The families of the mentally-ill patients who died during the Life Esidimeni relocations have rejected DA leader Mmusi Maimane’s apology. He apologised at a memorial service for the 144 deceased patients that was held by the party in Johannesburg on Thursday.
The families have criticised the DA for using the names of their loved ones without their permission on an election billboard unveiled in Johannesburg last week.
Christine Nxumalo, who represents the families, says the apology wasn’t addressed to them since they were not present at the meeting.
Only three families attended the event.
“To be honest with you, as families, we didn’t hear the apology because we didn’t attend the memorial service and to be honest with you, we didn’t hear anything about what Maimane said.”
Earlier on Thursday, Maimane apologised to the families of the patients who died during the Life Esidimeni relocations for opening old wounds with the party’s controversial election billboard.
Last week, the DA unveiled the billboard in Johannesburg bearing the words “The ANC is killing us” with the names of people killed in Marikana and during the Life Esidimeni debacle.
Maimane says the decision to put up the billboard wasn’t a political one, but one to demand justice for the victims. He was speaking at a service held in Johannesburg on Thursday to remember those who died during the Life Esidimeni tragedy.
However, the families have rejected Maimane’s apology.
Members of the Democratic Alliance braved the heat, waiting for their leaders to address them. Only three families joined the Democratic Alliance at what it called a memorial service for the people who died following the Life Esidimeni relocations.
More than 140 psychiatric patients died after the Gauteng Department of Health transferred them from Life Esidimeni to ill-equipped NGOs in 2016. The other families are still angry with the party for using the names of their loved ones on an election poster without their permission.
Maimane says one family has approached Premier David Makhura demanding answers about the whereabouts of their loved ones who disappeared during the Life Esidimeni tragedy.
“And I will be watching whether Makhura will respond to malapa today, because all we are asking for is justice for South Africans.”
Three families present at the event say they want justice for their loved ones. One of them is the Moloi family. They say their son Fanie Moloi was buried without their consent.
“But till today he is not on the list of people who died. So, we are fighting that he gets on the list like 144 patients, but we have his death certificate and a grave number. He was buried by Avbob in Heidelberg. They buried our son without our consent.”
