DA calls for judicial inquiry into Esidimeni deaths
The Democratic Alliance says it has written to President Jacob Zuma, requesting he establish a judicial commission of enquiry to probe the deaths of over 100 psychiatric patients who were transferred from Life Esidimeni to various NGOs.
In a statement DA leader Mmusi Maimane says the Health Ombudsman’s report did not go far and deep enough.
“A further investigation is required. Since the Health Ombudsman’s report was released, many developments have come to light which require a commission with a wide scale in order to cover every conceivable aspect in relation to the deaths that occurred,” he says
Maimane says the Ombudsman never got to the bottom of why former Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu did what she did.
“We must confirm the absence of any underhand dealings or corrupt practices, and according to email chains, Minister Aaron Motsoeledi knew about the plan to move the patients as early as March 2015, and failed to intervene.”
Motsoaledi told Parliament’s Portfolio committee on Health that someone in the Gauteng Health Department did not want the National Health Department to know exactly what was going and omitted important information.
Meanwhile, Ombudsman Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, told the committee, that Mahlangu said to him she did not need the National Health department’s interference in the matter.
Maimane says many questions remain unanswered, and in the name of justice for those who died and their loved ones, the party believes the president must act without delay.