Eight years ago, 144 people with mental health problems died after they were moved from Life Esidimeni, a highly specialised, long-term psychiatric care hospital, to ill-equipped and unlicensed NGOs and community care facilities in one of the biggest human rights infringements in democratic South Africa. For the victims' families justice hinges on the Life Esidimeni Inquest judgment, which will be handed down on Wednesday, 10 July.

Listen to this article 13 min Listen to this article 13 min In 2016, shocking newspaper headlines across South Africa shook the nation to its core, relaying the first horrific deaths of mental health patients at the hands of a system that was supposed to protect them. What became known as the Life Esidimeni tragedy sparked a long and very public fight for justice for the 144 patients who died from gross neglect and starvation.

This fight will come to a head on Wednesday, 10 July, when Judge Mmonoa Teffo will hand down judgment in the historic inquest.

While news of the first deaths sparked widespread outrage, nationally and internationally, the fight for the right to dignity began long before the avoidable tragedy, when rumours started circulating in June 2015 that the Gauteng Department of Health's (GDoH) planned to end a decades-long contract with Life Esidimeni and close the facility.

Civil society organisations including SECTION27 and South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag) and the families of patients sounded the alarm that patients with mental illness would be at risk if they were moved to places without specialised care.

Their pleas and ensuing litigation were brushed aside, and in October...