R77m and counting – taxpayers make lawyers rich for the sins of Qedani Mahlangu and her crew

23 May 2023

In a country where ‘resource constraints’ has become the mantra for every state failure, from providing quality basic education to access to healthcare services, R77-million spent so far representing the Life Esidimeni accused is further proof – if proof were needed – of how far the ANC government has departed from caring about, never mind protecting and respecting, the lives of the poor. Yes, there are resource constraints, but only for services for the poor.

Last week, I had to spend R350 to bail a homeless friend out of prison. This was the fine he had to pay for contempt of court after being arrested for missing a court date for a minor drugs possession offence that he claims to be innocent of. The police had found him in the park where he stays and arrested him. He spent several nights at Sun City. Without my intervention he would have spent quite a few more.

The same week an investigation by my colleague Zukiswa Pikoli at Daily Maverick revealed that the Gauteng department of health (GDoH) has so far spent SEVENTY-SEVEN MILLION RANDS on legal representation for Qedani Mahlangu, Dr Barney Selebano and other former employees of the department. This is for lawyers representing their interests at the inquest being held into the deaths of 144 mental healthcare users at the Life Esidimeni facility in 2016.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Life Esidimeni inquest legal fees have cost Gauteng Health a staggering R77-million and counting

The accused (even though this is an inquest, not a criminal trial, the word fits) are currently witnesses before the Pretoria High Court in an inquest to try to determine whether there is criminal liability for deaths of 144 mental healthcare users, some of whom starved and were tortured while in the care of the GDoH.

Of course, as with everyone, they have a constitutional right to legal representation before the courts, and to be presumed innocent. This is despite the fact that they have already run up millions in legal bills before the arbitration where former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Mosenke, in his arbitration award, had the following to say about Mahlangu:

“Her overall conduct… was irrational, inexplicable, highly reckless and led to the death of at least 144 mental healthcare users and 1,418 survivors of the torture at non-governmental organisations. Her stance that she could not reasonably foresee that death might ensue or that MHCUs might be subject to torture is untenable and cannot be believed. She acted with impunity thinking she will get away with murder because the users and their families were vulnerable and poorly resourced. She acted with an ulterior motive that remains concealed even after many days of evidence before the hearing.”

However, unlike “everyone” they seem to have a VIP right to the best legal representation money can buy. Mahlangu has spurned using attorneys from the office of the State Attorney, a part of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, who provides legal services to the state, but which we know is in disarray due to poor funding, mismanagement and corruption. Instead she has private attorneys and one of the best criminal advocates in the country, a silk of silks, whose fees don’t come in at less than R50,000 a day.

What he is actually charging us for his services we don’t know.

How the R77-million breaks down we don’t know.

Whether there is a policy to cap the costs of their legal representation we don’t know.

How the GDoH will find the money to foot the bill we don’t know.

By the end of the Life Esidimeni inquest, protecting errant officials with blood on their hands will have cost half the total annual budget of the SAHRC and three-quarters of the total annual salary bill of Legal Aid SA.

Thus far the Office of the Gauteng Premier, the GDoH and the State Attorney have declined to answer these questions. As a result, Daily Maverick is having to make an application under the Promotion of Access to Information Act to try to obtain this information. I promise we will tell you eventually.

Over the next two days, the inquest is due to hear the evidence of former premier David Makhura and former finance MEC Barbara Creecy (who have been implicated in the decision to close LE by Mahlangu’s evidence). Their lawyers will now join the others, protecting their interests and racking up further millions. Creecy and Makhura too will no doubt be lawyered up at your expense.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that by the end of the inquest we, the taxpayers, could have paid up to ONE HUNDRED MILLION RANDS in their legal fees.

This is called rubbing salt in the wounds of the dead, the tortured and their families.

Meanwhile, the still-grieving families of the Life Esidimeni disaster have to bear this insult, while they depend on the excellent but cash-strapped legal services of NGOs like SECTION27.

You can view portraits of the families here: Life Esidimeni - Portraits

Meanwhile, whistle-blowers like Martha Ngoye, formerly of Prasa, have to use their own funds, running into debt and financial ruin, to protect themselves from malicious prosecution by their former bosses, who are also using government funds to legally harass them.

Meanwhile, vital institutions like the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) depend on an annual budget of less than R200-million.

Meanwhile Legal Aid SA, which has a constitutional mandate to provide legal services to all the indigent of this country (my homeless friend included), has had its budget cut by 15% due to “resource constraints” and fiscal consolidation. In 2020/21, Legal Aid spent an average of R600 on each of the 331,000 poor people’s matters it finalised – less than a fraction of a percent of the budget Mahlangu and crew have used up. That’s a metaphor for how much poor life is valued against privileged and politically connected life.

By the end of the Life Esidimeni inquest, protecting errant officials with blood on their hands will have cost half the total annual budget of the SAHRC and three-quarters of the total annual salary bill of Legal Aid SA.

Meanwhile, this government, that protects number one – itself – can spend R93-million upgrading ministers’ homes.

In a country where “resource constraints” has become the mantra for every state failure, from providing quality basic education to access to healthcare services, this is further proof – if proof were needed – of how far the ANC government has departed from caring about, never mind protecting and respecting, the lives of the poor. Yes, there are resource constraints, but only for the poor. In ANC land it’s one law – and the best lawyers – for the blue light brigade (even if fallen from grace, they are still comrades after all) and hell and penury for the rest of us.

The 2024 election couldn’t come fast enough. DM

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