Former Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlanguhas been summoned to testify at the Esidimeni Arbitration hearings on the 6th of December.
Department Head, Dr Barney Selebano has been subpoenaed to take the stand two days earlier.
A date for the former Mental Health Director Dr Makgabo Manamela has not yet been set, as she’s still appealing the Ombudsman’s findings.
A CEO of one the implicated NGOs took the stand on Monday. Anchor Life, housed at the Cullinan Rehabilitation Centre.
Anchor Life is one of the five NGO’s that recorded the highest number of deaths.It was shut down in October 2016 after five patients died in just three months, among them Joseph Gumede.
CEO Dorothy Franks conceded she was unskilled and unqualified to care for patients. Franks admitted to taking hundreds of thousands of rand in payments and Sassa grants, five months after her facility was closed.
Franks also withdrew grants of patients who’d already died. She also pointed fingers at former Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu and mental health director Makgabo Manamela.
Arbitrator Dikgang Moseneke says she wants to wrap up the hearings in December and by then Qedani Mahlangu and other implicated officials must come and account for their actions.
The state says it will subpoena her by then.
Advocate Tebogo Hutamo says:”She has indicated that she can testify between the 29th and 31st of January and subpoena will be issued for her to testify on 6 December they are looking for her whereabouts to hand the subpoena.”
The hearings will resume next week.
There are also calls for Gauteng Premier David Makhura’s appearance before the hearings to be expedited. This after new claims by the former mental health director surfaced that Makhura knew about the transfers that led to the 141 deaths.
