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Life Esidimeni inquest: 'I fought so hard' - project lead breaks down during his testimony

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Life Esidimeni inquest: 'I fought so hard' - project lead breaks down during his testimony

16th November 2021

By: News24Wire

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The man tasked with leading the Life Esidimeni project, in terms of which a number of mental health patients had to be moved to alternative facilities, broke down in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday morning when he testified about the internal turmoil he experienced.

Levy Mosenogi was under cross-examination at an inquest into the project, which is being held to determine whether anyone should be held criminally liable for the death of 144 patients after they were moved to ill-equipped NGOs.

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The Gauteng health department wanted to close the Baneng Care Centre, along with other Life Esidimeni facilities. But Mosenogi said he asked that the closure be postponed for at least a year.

"The Baneng situation is different because there were severely disabled people [there] who would be lying in bed and cannot wake up. Because of what I saw in Baneng, it reflected because my younger brother was also admitted as severely disabled in Gelukspan District Hospital.

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"I would sit with him and when I wanted to go, he would hold on to my hand because he could not even speak. It was the same picture I had in my mind and that is why I fought so hard for Baneng to not be closed."

At that stage of his testimony, he started sobbing.

He told the court that he had no powers to stop the project.

He said, "I didn't have those powers. The pressure was that people were already resigning from Life Esidimeni – senior staff. Basically, we were going to be left in the lurch if I resigned myself. It (the project) would have proceeded, and it might have been worse. I thought it was important I continue with the work and intervene as much as I could. I didn't have the power to stop it."

He said people who could have stopped the project were former MEC Qedani Mahlangu and her executive team.

Judge Mmonoa Teffo adjourned the proceedings for 30 minutes.

On Monday, Mosenogi testified that he wrote a letter to Mahlangu when he realised that the number of beds wasn't real, but projected.

He asked for the project to be postponed by between six months and a year. Mahlangu granted him a three-month extension.

Asked whether the department should have listened to the suggestion by the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag) to appoint a curator for the patients, he said: "I think we should have worked much better with Sadag and Section 27 and that their recommendation for a curator should have been taken into perspective."

Mosenogi said he asked his prayer group to pray for him.

"I described the pressure that I [was] facing and the project that seems to not be going the right way. I really asked them to pray for me and the department because this thing [was] heavy on me."

He also raised his concerns at his local ANC branch, where he was the chairperson.

He said, "The next person would have been the premier [David Makhura] or the [then] Minister of Health [Aaron Motsoaledi], and I didn't raise it [with them]. That is why I was asking the family representatives to knock at the doors of the premier and the minister to see if they [couldn't] get help."

Despite not raising his concerns with the premier and the minister, Mosenogi said he didn't want to quit the project.

"...because it would have continued [without me], and maybe it would have been worse. I thought as the person who accepted the role; I should continue. My greatest fear was that Life Esidimeni would be closed, and I would be stuck with patients. It kept me up at night. I should have appealed to higher authorities."

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