The Democratic Alliance (DA) said it will be pushing the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to lay a broad range of charges in the matter of the Life Esidimeni Inquest, within a tight time frame.

Last week, in its judgment, the Pretoria High Court ruled that former Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu, and former Gauteng Mental Health head Dr Makgabo Manamela acted with negligence, which led to the deaths of 141 mentally ill patients.

The judge also ruled that their conduct made the deaths of these patients inevitable.

DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC Jack Bloom said it was significant that Judge Mmonoa Teffo accepted that earlier evidence from Justice Dikgang Moseneke’s arbitration in this matter could be accepted as part of the inquest proceedings.

Bloom stated that there was an enormous amount of testimony, which he believed should be used to prosecute not only Mahlangu and Manamela, but others implicated in the suffering of the hundreds of mental patients sent to unsuitable non-governmental organisations.

“Mahlangu and Manamela should be charged with culpable homicide, but there were also many contraventions of the Mental Health Care Act and the National Health Act, which have severe penalties for negligent treatment,” he said.

The DA said it had studied the full 196-page Life Esidimeni Inquest judgment, and that its spokesperson on Justice Glynnis Breytenbach would be writing to the NPA to provide details by August 15, of who will be charged, and for what offences, concerning the Esidimeni tragedy.

Bloom said Breytenbach would question the NPA in Parliament’s Justice Portfolio Committee if firm assurances were not given.

“We need to know what measures are being taken to expedite the charges and court procedures, so that justice is finally served in this terrible tragedy,” he noted.