By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu asked the Pretoria High Court to independently verify some of the evidence and documents presented to it regarding the Life Esidimeni matter.
Mahlangu testified on Wednesday at the Life Esidimeni inquest probing whether anyone can be held criminally liable for the deaths of 141 mental health patients who were moved to NGOs from Life Esidimeni facilities.
The inquest heard about the minutes of former Gauteng premier David Makhura’s budget committee meeting on 26 November 2014. The committee decided to terminate the Life Esidimeni contract.
It heard that the premier, former finance and economic development MECs Barbara Creecy and Lebogang Maile, were among the committee members who attended the meeting.
Mahlangu asked the inquest to request the full, verbatim minutes of the meeting to get to the crux of what was said. She said the version in the court’s possession was inaccurate.
There are things not reflected in the minutes that counsel has taken the court through. If the court wishes to get a verbatim discussion of what happened in that boardroom, I think the court has the right to those. This is not accurate, and I will not start lying today about what happened in the executive council.
She also disputed the version that said the department discussed means not to compromise the quality of services it offered, saying it was an “engineered” version of the minutes.
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