Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has described the removal and transfer of hundreds of psychiatric patients to NGO facilities as a "moment of madness" by Gauteng's Department of Health.
Motsoaledi also told Parliament yesterday that the relocation of these mentally ill patients from Life Esidimeni had been driven by money.
He said the Gauteng officials and politicians responsible for this had not told the national Health Department there were no funds to keep the patients.
“That the idea behind the Gauteng Health Marathon Project, as it came to be known, was to save money, adds another dimension to our disappointment and pain,” said Motsoaledi.
“I wish to put it on record that at no stage did it emerge, directly or indirectly, implicitly or explicitly, that the Department of Health nationally or in any province had run out of money to take care of mentally ill patients,” said Motsoaledi.
This issue was discussed with the provincial government and at no stage was it ever raised in the provincial executive meetings.
He said they had been angered by what happened and wanted justice for the families.
Opposition parties also weighed in on the matter, saying they wanted those responsible to be criminally prosecuted.
Motsoaledi said the National Prosecuting Authority would handle the prosecutions once investigations had been concluded. He said no stone would be left unturned in the investigations.
Wilmot James of the DA said the report by the health ombudsman was too late as more than 100 patients had already died. He said there must be justice for the families of the dead patients.
He said the matter would not have come to the public's attention had Jack Bloom, the DA MPL in the Gauteng provincial legislature, not asked former health MEC Qedani Mahlangu.
He said President Jacob Zuma must appoint a commission of inquiry into the deaths.
Christopher Msimang of the IFP also described the deaths of the patients as a tragedy and called for the criminal prosecution of those responsible.
He said the removal of the patients showed the government had not taken steps against the prevention of deaths. The action of the provincial authorities was tantamount to murder.
Manzoor Shaik-Emam of the National Freedom Party said the health ombudsman’s report showed that the patients were sent to die in the NGO facilities.
He also questioned the lack of quick intervention by the oversight committees in the Gauteng provincial legislature. He said all those involved in the case must be criminally charged.
The government has been under fire since the health ombudsman released his report early this month.
In his report, he had found 94 patients had died, but the number had now increased to more than 100.
Mahlangu had told the legislature last September that 36 patients had died.
However, at the time she reported the 36 deaths the number was more than twice that. Mahlangu has since resigned from her position.