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Fear of repeat of Life Esidimeni tragedy

Witnessing the uncertain future of the centre where her mentally ill brother was being cared for brought back the trauma of the Life Esidimeni tragedy for Yolanda.*

Her brother is one of the five Life Esidimeni patients who are residents at San Michele Home in Brakpan, Ekurhuleni. The home is now facing financial troubles because of the Gauteng health department's failure to pay its subsidy for three months.

The home is among dozens of others facing the same predicament, despite numerous promises by the department.

"It's been very traumatic for us as a family to learn that the government was not paying these NGOs even though they were doing a great job to look after our relatives," said Yolanda.

She said Life Esidimeni patients had suffered enough at the hands of government and the best the government could do was to pay people who can do a proper job of caring for them.

"I was worried about my brother because he had made huge improvement from when he arrived at San Michele from Waverley Centre. He has gained weight and was a lot happier. I couldn't bear the thought of him having to go elsewhere because the government had failed to pay. Mentally challenged people are very sensitive and don't cope well with change," said Yolanda.

She had personally relocated her brother from Waverley in Germiston. He was one of more than 1000 mentally ill patients that the department removed from Life Esidimeni and placed at various NGOs where over 100 died due to lack of care, and neglect. Those who survived were then placed at reputable NGOs like San Michele.

As a result of nonpayment, the home took the department to court to force it to pay the R2.2-million it owed.

This week health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa met with over 100 NGOs that her department owed R34million and promised that the funds would be in their bank accounts by today.

"If trust is broken between the department and NGOs, let us build it, " Ramokgopa said.

But the NGOs are not trusting. Yesterday lawyers representing eight other centres sent a scathing letter to her department demanding it to address the subsidy and licensing of NGOs within five days.

* Yolanda is not her real name.

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