The director of the Rebafenyi mental health project that housed patients from a Life Esidimeni centre for a few months says allegations that an ANC councillor and a policewomen were involved in dodgy NGOs are baseless.

Jack Bloom from the Democratic Alliance alleged that a senior ANC councillor and a police general “are involved in a dodgy NGO with unlicensed premises in which one patient died‚ possibly from neglect“.

ANC councillor Nosipho Makeke-Tyobeka and policewoman Sandra Malebe-Themba both sit on the board of Refanyeni domestic abuse centre in Atteridgeville‚ that had 100 patients from Life Healthcare Esidimeni premise moved to its facilities.

 The patients were moved in July after the Gauteng department of health decided to end its contract with Life Esidimeni health centres.

One patient died after a week at one of the NGOs linked to Rebafenyi.

Director of Rebafenyi’s mental health project Tiisetso Malebo said the domestic violence NGO had decided to help the Gauteng health department by taking on mentally ill patients from July last year. But after a few months‚ when the department did not pay enough money for the patients’ care‚ he asked patients to be removed.

The patients stayed at a property in Hennops River and in Phelindaba.

But Malebo said that the two woman named by Bloom only sit on the NGO’s domestic violence board to give professional advice and he hadn’t seen either for six months.

He said they had not been happy about the decision to care for mentally-ill patients after not enough money was received from the department of health.

He said: “I don’t want to involve innocent people in this. They were not involved in this decision to care for patients. They just sat on the board in an advisory capacity.

“It is really cynical to involve them in this. They had nothing to do with this.”

He said the move of mentally ill patients to its premises had cost members of the board money as too little money was received for the sick.

“This cost us a lot of money. We didn’t get paid for three months.

“I told the department I am ‘gatvol’ of this thing.”

Malebo even asked that mentally patients be removed by the end of December but they were only removed in January.

This meant staff worked an extra month caring for them for which they had not been paid‚ he said.

Bloom suggested Makeke-Tyobeka and policewoman Sandra Malebe-Themba were involved in taking on mentally ill patients for the money.

 He said: “There should be an investigation into the money flows and who personally benefited at all the NGOs where Esidimeni patients were placed.”