The meeting among the families comes amid the ongoing inquest that will determine if anyone should be held criminally liable for the death of 144 mental health patients in 2016.
My journey began in earnest in January 2016 at a public meeting called by the Life Esidimeni Randfontein facility. It took place following a holiday we had taken, as a family (my five kids, my husband and I), a holiday, we desperately needed having come to terms with my sister Virginia’s condition of Alzheimer’s disease and getting used to her need to be in the Life Esidimeni mental health facility on a full-time basis.
This new normal had taken a serious psychological toll on us as a family, but more so on Shanice, her daughter. Our only comfort was the fact that she was getting the help she needed and deserved, and she was in a good facility.