Former Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu says she visited several NGOs to which mentally ill patients from Life Esidimeni had been taken to following complaints of non-payments and overcrowding.
She says she undertook the visits with the senior managers of the department including Dr Makgabo Manamela.
Mahlangu is giving testimony virtually in the Life Esidimeni Inquest into the deaths of more than 140 mentally-ill patients in 2016 that had been moved from Life Esidimeni to ill-equipped NGOs to save costs.
She says the head of the department, Barney Selebano, refused to investigate the death of a patient at the Precious Angels NGO after the department received a notification letter from the lobby group, Section 27.
“He said no, MEC we are running the Department of Health, and in the department people die and because the death is natural, there is little we can do about it. I did have with Dr Selebano.”
Live proceedings of Mahlangu’s testimony:
