Families deny working with AfriForum in legal case for mental patient deaths
Christine Nxumalo, whose sister, Virginia Machpelah died at one of the five non-governmental organisations (NGO) that Health Ombudsman Malegapuru Makgoba identified as operating illegally, dismissed claims that Afriforum would be working with the affected families to pursue a legal case against the perpetrators of the tragedy. Earlier this month, Solidarity Helping Hand, an arm of trade union Solidarity, which is also linked to the Afrikaner-interest group AfriForum, announced they planned a class action lawsuit against the Gauteng Department of Health on behalf of relatives of the 94 patients who died after being transferred from Life Esidimeni facilities last year. "We heard about their [Afriforum’s] press conference but we don’t know them, we have never spoken to them, we don’t know what they are talking about," Nxumalo said. Nxumalo told Business Day on Thursday that the families of the victims all wanted to take legal action and were working with Section 27 in this regard. "We’...
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