A non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Kokosi that has been linked to the possible ill-treatment of mental
health patients was found, this week, to have housed some of them in a poorly ventilated garage.
During the past few months, the Gauteng Department of Health has been criticised extensively for transferring
mentally ill patients from the Life Esidemeni facilities in which they were previously cared for to various NGOs
throughout the province to cut costs.
Even before they were transferred, their families, the national media and concerned members of the public questioned the move. A human rights organisation, Section 27, even tried to stop the transferrals but the health department went ahead. Within a matter of months, at least 36 of the patients had already died and others were missing.
On 29 September, the Beeld reported that one of the patients, Mercy Ngqulunga (39) a woman with bipolar
disorder from Turffontein in Johannesburg, went missing from an NGO called Goitsemodimo in the Fochville
area. She and some of the other patients escaped in August and wanted to go back to the Life Esidemeni facility in
Randfontein because they did not get enough food and were not taken to the clinic for their repeat prescriptions. It
is essential for those with psychiatric conditions to take medication regularly.
Ngqulunga never reached her destination, however, and her family does not know whether she is still alive.
The Herald has established that Ngqulunga disappeared from the Goitsimodimo Centre for the Disabled in
Kokosi Ext. 2. The publication’s journalist visited the facility with two local councillors, Ms Annett Venter and Almé
Zwart, last Friday.
The centre comprises two houses, for men and women respectively. A small delegation from the Gauteng Department of Health was visiting the women’s section when the Herald arrived.
While everything seemed neat and clean, there were only three showers for the 30 patients that Ms Lizzy Modisadife,
the centre’s owner, said were being housed there. Only two garments, one of which looked handmade, could be
identified from a heap of rags in a room with two industrial sewing machines.
This is where the patients are supposed to develop their skills.
In the male facility a few blocks away, however, conditions appeared to be worse. While it was also clean, the personnel said three of the 12 patients being housed there have to sleep on the floor as there are no beds for them. It
also emerged that four bedridden patients are housed in the garage, the door of which is usually kept closed.
‘This is unacceptable. There is only a small window for ventilation. It is inhumane to keep patients in such conditions,’ Venter fumed. She also noted that there were no proper laundry facilities for the clothing and linen.
It also emerged that the male patients were not being fed according to the prescribed menu. Instead of serving
pap, fish and two vegetables as per the set menu, kitchen staff were making a lunch consisting of pap and a sauce that seemed to be made of beef stock, potatoes, carrots and pasta. While supper was supposed to be macaroni, mince
and vegetables and tea should have been served with bread, margarine and polony, the cupboards were close to
empty, except for gravy powder, rice, oats, and half-bags of basic necessities like flour and sugar.
There was no sign of the Mabella porridge for breakfast.