Families of Life Esidimeni victims pleased with way govt’s handling of payouts
JOHANNESBURG – The families of the Life Esidimeni victims say they have renewed hope that they will receive their payouts.
The Gauteng government and the families reached an agreement on Friday after the families sought legal advice, saying the government failed to pay as former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke’s order.
Moseneke ordered the government to pay R1.2 million to each family of the 144 mental health patients who died after they were moved to ill-equipped NGOs.
The Life Esidimeni family committee’s Christine Nxumalo says after the order by Moseneke, some families went about obtaining their payouts, but others did not receive anything causing great concern to those families.
She says after last week’s meeting with the provincial government, the processes to follow were sorted out.
“A lot of the families did not wait for the process to happen. I think some families were smart enough to actually go through this process already. A lot of them have gone to the master’s office and have submitted to the government. In fact, one payment went through on Friday morning.”
Nxumalo says they are now pleased with the way the government is handling the matter.
“Because it protects the family, the patients and also the government is not going to be liable for paying the wrong person.”
The office of the Gauteng premier says it will now verify all the claims they have received and once that is done, it will invite the master of the High Court to do the verification process.