Op-Ed: Philanthropy is never without risk

In light of the tragedy that saw thousands of mentally ill patients moved from Life Esidimeni private homes to unregistered and unlicensed NGO’s and which resulted in over 100 deaths, financial donors thinking twice about making donations should not tighten their purse strings but rather do proper due diligence before supporting organisations.

There has been a great deal of news recently about the removal and subsequent deaths of mentally ill patients from the licensed Life Esidimeni private homes to 27 unlicensed facilities which have been reported as unregistered NGOs. As a result over 100 patients have died…