In the past week, two examples of systematic torture of adults living with mental illness have been revealed. In South Africa, a report revealed that at least 94 residents of Life Esidimeni facility died when they were dumped into various “dodgy NGOs”. This week, the Delhi Commission for Women, DCW, conducted a surprise inspection of the government-run Asha Kiran “home” for persons with mental disabilities. Along with disgusting and deplorable conditions and violations of human and women’s rights, they found that, in the past two months, eleven residents, more like prisoners, had died. Asha Kiran never reported the deaths. We live, and die, in an age of global abandonment, and the zone of abandonment is growing as it intensifies.
The stories of Life Esidimeni and Asha Kiran are heartbreaking, first, and then howl-inducing bay-at-the-moon outrageous. The story of Life Esidimeni, or this latest chapter, began in 2015 when the Gauteng government decided to cut costs by cancelling its contract with Life Esidimeni and move close to 1400 residential patients into community care and ngos. According to report and to family members, the move was chaotic, at best, and the residents were treated “like you don’t treat a dog”. Most of the ngos had no certificates, but no matter. The State had decided on its priorities, and the most vulnerable were dumped into hellholes with pretty names, like Precious Angel. Within a matter of months, almost a third of the patients tossed into Precious Angel died. Their last days were slow and agonizing.
The story of Asha Kiran, or its latest chapter, is one of in-house cruelty. Overcrowded and filthy, the place is covered in urine, feces and menstrual blood. Women are forced to line up naked in order to bathe, and of course the corridor is monitored by CCTV. Children are forced to sleep on the cold floors, without sheet or mattress, for the offense of having wet the bed. Asha Kiran is designed for a maximum of 350. In 2015, it housed 900. Since 2001, over 600 deaths have been reported at Asha Kiran, but, as the last two months demonstrate, how many more go unreported remains unknown.
The unreported loss of almost 100 people in Johannesburg or 11 in Delhi is part of the expanding State policy and practice of abandonment: “Zones of abandonment … accelerate the death of the unwanted. In this bureaucratically and relationally sanctioned register of social death, the human, the mental and the chemical are complicit: their entanglement expresses a common sense that authorized the lives of some while disallowing the lives of others.”
As the events surrounding Life Esidimeni and Asha Kiran demonstrate, the abandonment is neither neglect nor forgetting. Rather the abandonment is a full on, brutal, vicious, totalizing assault on body and soul, in which our brothers and sisters, friends and strangers each and all, are slowly and swiftly tortured, and then tortured again.
Life Esidimeni means “place of dignity”. Asha Kiran means “ray of hope.” They are what happens to dignity and hope in the age of abandonment. We are at “the end-station on the road of poverty … the place where living beings go when they are no longer considered people.” Now, as the mortuaries fill up, there is outrage: this must NEVER happen again. Where was the outrage before, as the end-station was being built in plain sight?
(Image Credit: The Daily Vox)
Life Esidimeni inquest adjourned until 4 October https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-09-16-life-esidimeni-inquest-adjourned-until-4-october/
THE LIFE ESIDIMENI INQUEST: Portraits of lives lost: Jabulile Hlatshwayo https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-09-21-portraits-of-lives-lost-jabulile-hlatshwayo/
The Life Esidimeni Inquest: Portraits of lives lost: Rosy Tshabalala https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-09-28-portraits-of-lives-lost-rosy-tshabalala/
Section27: Life Esidimeni inquest needs to be expedited https://www.jacarandafm.com/news/news/section27-life-esidimeni-inquest-needs-be-expedited/
LIFE ESIDIMENI INQUEST: A Recap on its progress and what to expect https://www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2021/10/06/life-esidimeni-inquest-a-recap-on-its-progress-and-what-to-expect/
THE LIFE ESIDIMENI INQUEST: Portraits of lives lost: Magdalena de Lange – ‘Your brother is Number 97’ https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-10-06-portraits-of-lives-lost-magdalena-de-lange-your-brother-is-number-97/
LIFE ESIDIMENI INQUEST: Portrait of lives lost: Family of Bhekumuzi Sithole still looking for answers https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-10-14-portrait-of-lives-lost-family-of-bhekumuzi-sithole-still-looking-for-answers/
The Life Esidimeni Inquest: Portraits of lives lost: Our sister Maria – They just buried her https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-10-20-portraits-of-lives-lost-our-sister-maria-they-just-buried-her/
Life Esidimeni Inquest: Journal of a grieving sister https://www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2021/10/22/life-esidimeni-inquest-journal-of-a-grieving-sister/
THE LIFE ESIDIMENI INQUEST: Portraits of lives lost: Maud Motsoahae – no longer alone https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-10-28-portraits-of-lives-lost-maud-motsoahae-no-longer-alone/
The Life Esidimeni Inquest: Portraits of lives lost: ‘She was wearing someone else’s dress that was too big’ https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-11-04-portraits-of-lives-lost-she-was-wearing-someone-elses-dress-that-was-too-big/
Life Esidimeni Inquest: Portraits of Lives Lost: Raisibe Rahab Mangena – ‘She never saw me graduate’ https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-11-10-portraits-of-lives-lost-raisibe-rahab-mangena-she-never-saw-me-graduate/
MENTAL HEALTHCARE TRAGEDY : Life Esidimeni inquest resumes after a month’s delay, GDOH planning director Levy Mosenogi testifies https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-11-15-life-esidimeni-inquest-resumes-after-a-months-delay-gdoh-planning-director-levy-mosenogi-testifies/
Life Esidimeni inquest: ‘I fought so hard’ – project lead breaks down during his testimony https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/life-esidimeni-inquest-i-fought-so-hard-project-lead-breaks-down-during-his-testimony-20211116
‘I did not have much power,’ says Gauteng Department of Health chief planning director Levy Mosenogi https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-11-16-i-did-not-have-much-power-says-gauteng-department-of-health-chief-planning-director-levy-mosenogi/
Marathon transfer project of mentally ill patients lacked ‘proper due diligence’ — top planning official https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-11-18-marathon-transfer-project-of-mentally-ill-patients-lacked-proper-due-diligence-top-planning-official/
LIFE ESIDIMENI INQUEST: Former health MEC Qedani Mahlangu inspired fear, says Marathon Project manager, Levy Mosenogi https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-11-18-former-health-mec-qedani-mahlangu-inspired-fear-says-marathon-project-manager-levy-mosenogi/
Life Esidimeni: Gauteng govt footing legal bill for current, former officials at inquest https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/life-esidimeni-gauteng-govt-footing-legal-bill-for-current-former-officials-at-inquest-20211121
Mental health patients were crammed into small house and slept in cots, inquest told https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-11-22-mental-health-patients-were-crammed-into-small-house-and-slept-in-cots-inquest-told/
LIFE ESIDIMENI TRAGEDY: Portraits of lives lost: Parents fear starvation killed their son https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-11-24-portraits-of-lives-lost-parents-fear-starvation-killed-their-son/
The Life Esidimeni Inquest: Portraits of Lives Lost: ‘Water, please water’ – a beloved sister’s plea https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-12-10-portraits-of-lives-lost-water-please-water-a-beloved-sisters-plea/
Life Esidimeni inquest resumes at Pretoria high court https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2022-01-17-watch-live-life-esidimeni-inquest-resumes-at-pretoria-high-court/
LIFE ESIDIMENI INQUEST : Marathon Project: Patient numbers exceeded NGO admission capacity, former health official testifies https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-01-18-marathon-project-patient-numbers-exceeded-ngo-admission-capacity-former-health-official-testifies/
Life Esidimeni: ‘There wasn’t any process followed’, former health official tells inquest https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/life-esidimeni-there-wasnt-any-process-followed-former-health-official-tells-inquest-20220117
NGOs where Life Esidimeni patients were placed did not have service-level agreements: ex-Gauteng health official https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-01-19-ngos-where-life-esidimeni-patients-were-placed-did-not-have-service-level-agreements-ex-gauteng-health-official/
The Life Esidimeni Inquest : Portraits of lives lost: Left lying on the floor https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-01-28-portraits-of-lives-lost-left-lying-on-the-floor/
LIFE ESIDIMENI: Gauteng NGOs taking on mental healthcare users were overcrowded, inquest told https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-01-23-gauteng-ngos-taking-on-mental-healthcare-users-were-overcrowded-inquest-told/
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Life Esidimeni: Mental health is still the ‘stepchild’ of health and remains underfunded, underresourced https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-01-23-life-esidimeni-mental-health-is-still-the-stepchild-of-health-and-remains-underfunded-underresourced/
INQUEST RESUMES: Former Gauteng health official denies being part of decision-making team in Life Esidimeni tragedy https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-01-31-former-gauteng-health-official-denies-being-part-of-decision-making-team-in-life-esidimeni-tragedy/
Life Esidimeni inquest fills in the gaps https://www.newframe.com/life-esidimeni-inquest-fills-in-the-gaps/
Portraits of lives lost: Patrick Mpiti’s mother, Sannah, died a long way from home https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-02-03-portraits-of-lives-lost-patrick-mpitis-mother-sannah-died-a-long-way-from-home/
Five residents test Covid positive, vigil up at crowded shelter for intellectually challenged https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/five-residents-test-covid-positive-vigil-up-at-crowded-shelter-for-intellectually-challenged/articleshow/88923210.cms
Crying shame: Men forced to sleep in children’s cots at NGO after their move from Life Esidimeni https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/crying-shame-men-forced-to-sleep-in-childrens-cots-at-ngo-after-their-move-from-life-esidimeni-20220209
Life Esidimeni: ‘I could have done things differently’ – former Gauteng health manager https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/life-esidimeni-i-could-have-done-things-differently-former-gauteng-health-manager-20220210
LIFE ESIDIMENI INQUEST: Part 2- Recap on its progress and what to expect https://www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2022/02/10/life-esidimeni-inquest-part-2-recap-on-its-progress-and-what-to-expect/
Life Esidimeni: Nurse blames former mental health head for licensing ill-equipped NGOs https://www.news24.com/news24/SouthAfrica/News/life-esidimeni-nurse-blames-former-mental-health-head-for-licensing-ill-equipped-ngos-20220211
LIFE ESIDIMENI INQUEST: Portraits of Lives Lost: The file said ‘deceased’, that’s how I found out that Terence was dead https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-02-14-portraits-of-lives-lost-the-file-said-deceased-thats-how-i-found-out-that-terence-was-dead/
THE LIFE ESIDIMENI INQUEST: Portraits of Lives Lost: ‘I felt something was wrong’ — the lamentation of a grieving mother https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-02-19-portraits-of-lives-lost-i-felt-something-was-wrong-the-lamentation-of-a-grieving-mother/
Life Esidimeni inquest continues https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2022-02-25-watch-live-life-esidimeni-inquest-continues/
Some Life Esidimeni patients’ deaths due to negligence – pathologist https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2022-02-24-some-life-esidimeni-patients-deaths-due-to-negligence-pathologist/
Portraits of Lives Lost: ‘He was also a human being’ https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-02-28-portraits-of-lives-lost-he-was-also-a-human-being/
Did the Life Esidimeni scandal change anything? https://www.newframe.com/did-the-life-esidimeni-scandal-change-anything/
Shivering and hungry – the last time Rev Maboe saw his son https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-03-04-shivering-and-hungry-the-last-time-rev-maboe-saw-his-son/
Portraits of Lives Lost: They lied, he had a family who loved him https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-03-30-portraits-of-lives-lost-they-lied-he-had-a-family-who-loved-him/
Reabetswe Moeti’s justice will be televised https://www.newframe.com/reabetswe-moetis-justice-will-be-televised/
‘Your brother is dead,’ the caller said https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-04-18-portraits-of-lives-lost-your-brother-is-dead-the-caller-said/
State of SA Hospitals: ‘Gauteng hospitals are a mess’ https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/state-of-sa-hospitals-gauteng-hospitals-are-a-mess-2e81d072-d017-425b-ad0f-e20f04542765
WATCH LIVE | Life Esidimeni inquest https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2022-04-25-watch-live-life-esidimeni-inquest/
Officials from two NGOs to testify at Life Esidimeni Inquest https://sabcnews.com/officials-from-two-ngos-to-testify-at-life-esidimeni-inquest/
Life Esidimeni Inquest delayed due to unavailability of witnesses https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/life-esidimeni-inquest-delayed-due-to-unavailability-of-witnesses/
Inquest into Esidimeni death hears how NGO junior staff had access to patients’ confidential files https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/inquest-into-esidimeni-death-hears-how-ngo-junior-staff-had-access-to-patients-confidential-files/
Court must decide if someone is criminally liable for Life Esidimeni deaths: Evidence leader https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/court-must-decide-if-someone-is-criminally-liable-for-life-esidimeni-deaths-evidence-leader/
Gauteng health in flames – making it through the fires and fumbles of SA’s richest province https://www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2022/05/26/opinion-gauteng-health-in-flames-making-it-through-the-fires-and-fumbles-of-sas-richest-province/