A South African high court ruling marks an important milestone in holding public officials to account for their decisions.
As a result of the ruling, Qedani Mahlangu, who was the health minister for Gauteng province, and Makgabo Manamela, who was the province’s mental health director, can now be prosecuted for nine of the 144 deaths that occurred following the transfer of people with mental disability out of Life Healthcare Esidimeni hospitals in 2015 and 2016.
In October 2015 Mahlangu announced the health department was terminating its contract with Life Esidimeni in line with the Mental Health Care Act, “which encourages mental health care practitioners to treat mental health care users in the least restrictive environment”, and to save costs.
