Mr. Lucky Khambule:

The signs and indications are there as to the effects on mental health of being in direct provision. Suicide attempts have increased in the past 18 months. Last year alone, there were approximately five deaths in direct provision, some of which related to the mental health of people who were on these sleeping pills. This is not a qualified opinion but we feel that the provision of the tablets as a means of addressing the mental health issue is the wrong one. The psychological traumas that people face in direct provision are the things that need to be addressed in a very serious way. Otherwise we will see more deaths happening in direct provision because we are ignoring the signs that are there on mental health issues.

A fresh example happened a month or so ago, where a lady had attempted suicide in one of the centres in the country, where she even left a message to be sent to a manager of that centre to take care of the babies in her absence. She had a history of mental health illness and we are not addressing that. Instead we are punishing people for the actions that they take, without understanding what they go through. It is a serious matter and needs to be taken seriously. As my colleague said earlier, people arrive with traumatic experiences already.

The other problem that people face is that they need prescriptions to get depression pills. The fact that some do not have access to medical cards makes it hard for them to even access those pills if they have been prescribed, because it takes time for them to get those medical cards.