Family members of the victims and survivors of the Life Esidimeni tragedy picketed outside the NPA's offices in Pretoria on Tuesday to call on the body to prioritise the prosecution of former Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu and former director of mental health Dr Makgabo Manamela. The protest comes eight years after 144 mental health patients died in SA's worst public health tragedy.

Listen to this article 10 min Listen to this article 10 min 'We can't wait another eight years."

This short yet poignant sentence was featured on a placard held by one of the family members of the Life Esidimeni tragedy victims outside the National Prosecuting Authority's (NPA) offices near Church Square, Pretoria.

The tragedy began in 2016, when more than 1,400 mental health care users were moved from Life Esidimeni, a highly specialised, long-term psychiatric care hospital, to ill-equipped and unlicensed non-government organisations as part of a cost-cutting measure. The Gauteng Department of Health's bid to save money had a deadly cost - 144 mental health users lost their lives.

In July 2024, Judge Mmonoa Teffo, ruling on the Life Esidimeni inquest, found that former Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu and former director of mental health in Gauteng, Dr Makgabo Manamela, could be found criminally responsible for the deaths of nine Life Esidimeni patients. It was a day of vindication and triumph for the families of the Life Esidimeni victims and survivors.

"We were so encouraged, we were so confident when we heard the judgment. We were changing our minds on the perspective we had about justice. But now...