Johannesburg – Some of the victims of the Life Esidimeni tragedy will need to wait even longer for the rest of their compensation.
The Gauteng government is preparing to head to court to ask for a curator to be put in charge of administering the claim payout process.
Almost 1,600 psychiatric patients were caught up in the scandal when they were moved from Life Esidimeni homes to ill-equipped and underfunded NGOs in Gauteng in 2015.
At least 144 patients died – many in the most wretched of circumstances.
The Gauteng government on Monday said the only payments still outstanding were some survivors who were not part of the initial arbitration process.
“We want that money to be paid but we have to comply with the law. This is why we have to get a curator appointed, to approach the High Court and get the money,” said spokesperson Thabo Masebe.
Masebe said they were hoping to appoint a curator before releasing the money owed to those who were not part of the arbitration process.
“We are working on it as a matter of urgently. So, it should be at court anytime and once it’s done, we will be able to get the curator so that we can release the money,” he said.
