Payout vanishes before beneficiary’s eyes

ONE of the bereaved Life Esidimeni beneficiaries, who were awarded R1 million in damages for the loss of a loved one during the infamous relocation of mentally-ill patients to other health facilities across Gauteng, has nothing to show for the money.

Tamara van der Merwe* (not her real name) from Johannesburg says she was provided with a lawyer by the Master’s Court to administer her funds, and the lawyer charged her a R40 000 administration fee.

Van der Merwe was the sole beneficiary of her elder brother, who died in 2016 after he was transferred to the Cullinan Care and Rehabilitation Centre in Pretoria during the marathon relocation. She was one of the aggrieved family members, who attended daily, the Arbitration Dispute Resolution (ADR) hearings chaired by retired deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke, who awarded R1m in damages to the families who lost their loved ones, and R1.5m to the families of the relatives that survived.

Her money appears to have been spent recklessly in less than six months. She is now accusing a lawyer of swindling her.

However, her bank account reflects a sad state of affairs. She was initially paid R200 000 and another R150 000 in the same month in 2019. Within two weeks, the money was gone.

When asked what she spent this large sum of money on, she said she bought furniture, groceries and at times, her children would come to ask for money for different things.

Now there’s no trace that the pensioner once had so much money. She is paying R600 a month in rent at an old-age home. She has no TV or fridge. All she has is a single bed. Making ends meet on the social grant she receives is a struggle as she still has to spend R500 a month on her medication.

A member of the committee representing Life Esidimeni families, Andrew Pietersen, said: “The government did not give financial management guidance to the families after the payouts; they were invited to contact the committee if they needed assistance.”

Efforts to get hold of the lawyer accused of swindling Van der Merwe were unsuccessful.