JOHANNESBURG, October 27 (ANA) – Suspended chairperson of the Gauteng Mental Health Review Board Dumi Masondo faced tough questions at the Life Esidimeni arbitration hearing regarding her alleged complacency as bodies piled up in the aftermath of the Esidimeni tragedy.
Masondo said she had retired from a previous job in mental health within the provincial health department. She was then hired on a temporary basis in January 2016 to chair the MHRB, a statutory body within the department, on a temporary basis.
She blamed the then health MEC Qedani Mahlangu and her team for not including the board in the marathon project.
“We held a first meeting with [suspended head of mental health] Dr Makgabo Manamela in January, Mr Mosenogi [chief director of planning and head of Esidimeni project] and other officials where we were told about the removal of patients from Esidimeni. We didn’t play any role in the transfers as we were told by Dr Manamela that everything was being taken care of, the project was well underway and not to bother as the MEC had established a team to work with,” said Masondo.
She said she was told to stick to her core functions, which included reviewing decisions on mental health patients, investigations, and receiving documents on the state of mental health.
Masondo said she and her team believed that everyone played their role in the project until reports of deaths surfaced. The first deaths were reported to her office in July 2016 by Manamela, which stated five people had died. Her team discovered that 11 patients had actually died, she said.
Herself, Mahlangu and other officials visited several NGOs for inspections, including the Precious Angels in Attridgeville, Pretoria, she said.
“The place was dirty. I checked the cupboards and there were no food. A pot was on the stove with cabbage inside… the patients were all in bed covered with blankets. In terms of mental health, the patients are not supposed to sleep during the day, they need stimulation and there was nothing like that there,” she said.
Chairman of arbitration, former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke asked her why she didn’t take steps to ensure the health and wellness of the patients.
“As review board chairperson, why didn’t you put your foot down and save these poor people’s lives? You witnessed the lack of food, medication and staff…with your four or five qualifications in mental health, why didn’t you stop it? Why didn’t you call a press conference and tell the nation that something wrong was being done?” Moseneke asked.
Masondo said her office’s independence was infringed upon by top health officials.
“I started throwing my weight around and inquired from Dr Manamela who said everything was okay…we trusted our colleagues.”
Moseneke interjected: “Your job is not to trust, but to review. Were you afraid to tell the MEC she was wrong?”
“Justice, I was not afraid, as I said we were not part of the project. We were doing our core functions,” Masondo said.
She complained that she was the only official suspended without pay by MEC Gwen Ramokgopa who took over after Mahlangu’s resignation. Masondo decried the lack of support staff for the board, a constrained budget, and that she had to utilise Manamela’s staff members.
It emerged in a witness statement to the hearing that Masondo’s funeral parlour was used to transport the body of a patient from Precious Angels to Warrenton in the Northern Cape. In the statement, Wilehmina Thekwane, whose brother Charles died at Precious Angels, said staff told her to strictly use Masondo’s funeral parlour to transport the body.
Masondo denied that her funeral parlour was used. She was asked to assist with transport and was able to find a contact with the cooperative that her company belonged to.
“Masondo Funerals is a family business falling under African Queen Funeral Service cooperative. I got an undertaker to transport the body…I did not earn a cent from that.”
She then conceded that she was ignorant in exercising her duties, but went further to accuse NGOs of greediness for accepting scores of patients even though they did not have the skills to care for patients.
Masondo said given a chance, she would have intervened and stopped the project.
“I apologise profusely…I was deeply hurt by this and I apologise to families for not being fully involved.”
At least 141 patients died out of the more than 3,000 relocated from Life Esidimeni. Fifty nine of them are still unaccounted for.
– African News Agency (ANA)
