The inquest into the deaths of 144 mental healthcare users who were moved out of Life Esidimeni by the Gauteng government in 2015 and 2016 will begin in the North Gauteng high court on 19 July 2021, the NPA announced on Monday.
Relatives of the patients hope the inquest, which will determine causes of death, will finally lead to criminal prosecutions.
No one has been criminally charged for the deaths despite former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke’s arbitration award finding that the Gauteng health department’s decision to move the patients stemmed “from the arrogant and irrational use of public power”.
Witnesses at the arbitration testified that patients were sent to under-resourced and ill-equipped NGOs that lacked the ability to provide basic care or, in some cases, even feed the mental healthcare users.