There was no cut in mental health budget, Barbara Creecy says at Life Esidimeni inquest

Former Gauteng MEC for finance Barbara Creecy told the Pretoria high court inquest into the Life Esidimeni disaster that the health department was not under any pressure to cut costs when it terminated the contract, and instead had been underspending its allocated budget.

Creecy was giving evidence after former Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu testified that the decision to terminate was made by the premier’s budget committee, chaired by former premier David Makhura.

“The budget allocation to health in the financial year of 2014/15 was R31.4bn. In that financial year, there was underspending by the department of health,” said Creecy.

“In 2015/16, in the main adjustment, they received R34.1bn. You can see that there’s a significant increase in budget. By the end of the financial year, they received R35.3bn in the adjustment budget. By the end of the financial year they spent R34.8bn and again an underspending on the budget.

“The following financial year, R37.4bn was allocated and there was a slight underspending. In the 2017/18 financial year, R40.2bn was allocated and there was overspending at the end of the financial year, they spent R42bn. There was no cut in the health budget between the financial years,” said Creecy.

In her evidence, led by William Mokhare SC, Creecy said during the years under consideration, there was no decrease in the overall mental health budget.

She then testified on the budget allocation for mental healthcare as constructed by the health department. The budget was allocated specifically to psychiatric or mental hospitals, Life Esidimeni, mental health nonprofit organisations and mental health district services.

“There was a variation in the amounts allocated to Life Esidimeni. In that financial year [2013/14], R1.1bn allocated for mental health services. The actual expenditure was slightly over R1bn, an underspending of R62m.

“The following year there was R1.1bn allocated, the expenditure came to R1.2bn, R47m over-expenditure. In 2015/16 we recognised the overspending and allocated R1.26bn to the department, the spending was R1.22bn, an underspending. The budget increased to R1.35bn, the actual spending was R1.27bn,’ said Creecy.

Two weeks ago, Mahlangu told the inquest that “the decision to terminate was made through the budget committee, and the premier was alive to all that was happening, including MEC Creecy”.

In her evidence, she said the PBC was the one that directed the decision to terminate the contract. 

TimesLIVE