High Court hands down ruling on Life Esidimeni tragedy
Former Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu, mental health director Makgabo Manamela, and NGO head Dorothy Franks are responsible for the deaths of nine psychiatric patients in the Life Esidimeni tragedy.
This was the ruling of the Pretoria High Court, delivered on Wednesday afternoon by Judge Mmonoa Teffo.
Judge Teffo, who presided over the inquest hearing, has found that the three were negligent.
In 2016, 144 patients died after the Gauteng Health Department ordered their transfer from Life Esidimeni care facilities to various NGOs - most of which were operating unlawfully.
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The department cited cost-cutting for the decision.
In 2019, former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke chaired arbitration hearings in the case.
He found that officials who were involved in the transfer project were in breach of the Constitution and contravened the National Health Act and the Mental Health Act.
He ordered the State to pay each of the claimant families R1 million in compensation.
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