A manager at the state-owned Cullinan Care and Rehabilitation Centre in Pretoria faced a tough grilling on Wednesday regarding the patients who died of hunger and dehydration even after they were re-admitted at Cullinan following the closure of Siyabadinga and Anchor NGOs.
Acting Deputy Manager at Cullinan’s Nursing Department, Dikeledi Manaka has been on the witness stand over the past two days at the Life Esidimeni hearings in Parktown, Johannesburg.
She has been testifying about the deaths of 143 mentally ill patients.
Solidarity’s Advocate Dirk Groenewald cross-examined Manaka about some of the patients who died under her watch.
Groenewald asked “You telling us, you’re telling the family, that your son died, because the NGO where we put him didn’t give him food and water and unfortunately we couldn’t fix the damage.”
Manaka responded by saying: “The repercussions of prolonged hunger, takes time to correct.”
![[File Image] Police tape cordons a crime scene.](https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/SABC-News-crime-scene-AFP.png)
