Refilwe Thamae (26) allegedly used her headscarf to hang herself in a bathroom at Vereeniging’s Kopanong Hospital in Gauteng on Saturday.

Her mother, Kedibone Thamae (43) from Sharpeville, is now asking for answers.

She explains that Refilwe started showing signs of being mentally distressed on Thursday.

“I left her inside the house and went to the shops. When I came back, she was not home. I later received a call from a family friend that she was roaming the streets of Vereeniging, with plastic [bags] carrying her [and her babies’] clothes, and was throwing them in the street,” says Kedibone.

She alerted her mother and they went to look for Refilwe. When they found her, the Vereeniging police called an ambulance and Kedibone accompanied her daughter to the hospital.

“On arrival, she was treated. They said they would find her a ward at Sebokeng Hospital. Later, they told me that she was no longer being transferred to Sebokeng, as they were taking her to a side ward in the maternity section.

“I thought I left my daughter in good hands and that she would be safe and get healed. In the early hours of Saturday morning, two police officers arrived at my home and told me that I had to come to the hospital to sign papers.

“When we got to the hospital, I was alerted of my daughter’s alleged suicide. They told me that she used her headscarf to hang herself. What I want to know is, where were they when my daughter took her own life?” Kedibone asks.

The inconsolable mother told Sedibeng Ster that the incident has left her broken, with many unanswered questions.

“I wish they could have at least saved the baby; now both of them are gone.”

Gauteng Department of Health spokesperson Motalatale Modiba confirms that Refilwe arrived at the hospital with her mother.

He says the patient was seen by a doctor, who diagnosed her. She was admitted to the maternity ward where sedation and restraints were prescribed and applied. She was then nursed in a side ward as her condition was being triggered by crying babies.

“Unfortunately, when the team was conducting midnight rounds, she was not in her bed. She was later found hanging in the bathroom. The incident has been reported to SAPS, which has opened an inquest docket,” says Modiba.

“The department’s quality assurance unit will also conduct an internal investigation as this case falls under what we call a ‘patient safety incident’, which includes suicides… The internal process takes 60 days to conclude the case, independent of the police investigation,” he says.

Police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi confirms that an inquest docket has been opened to investigate the circumstances of Refilwe’s death.