For many people with severe mental illnesses, these special wards can be a lifeline and the first step to care — if they can get there.

The deaths of at least 144 mental health patients shook SA to its core and led to a historic arbitration that lasted more than 40 days.

When we got our independence, we did not ask ourselves what kind of ethics this new country needed. SA’s health ombud reflects on his first big case.