Publications
Partners
More than R220 million and six years later, the much-needed Randfontein Community Health Centre is still under construction, with community members questioning why "it is taking the government so long to complete this project".
READ: R43.5 million spent, but old age home is still empty
This after failed planned launches of the clinic in October and November 2020 by the department of infrastructure development. This has left the community as well as healthcare workers, placed at the current two "old clinics", in the area disgruntled.
According to department spokesperson Castro Ngobese the clinic, which is situated in Mohlakeng in Randfontein, will be up and running and the "Gauteng department of health will employ about 23 employees after the hand over of the facility from the department of infrastructure development".
However, despondent Mohlakeng residents who spoke to City Press regarding the "delayed opening" of the facility said:
"There are only two clinics in Mohlakeng - Mohakeng and Yarona clinics," said a healthcare worker at Mohlakeng Clinic, which City Press visited.
The visibly annoyed Mohlakeng clinic healthcare worker further told City Press that "Yarona clinic closes at 4pm daily and after that, it means every person in the community who needs medical care will go to Mohlakeng clinic".
READ: Desperately needed Randfontein old age home still empty
Yarona clinic's operating hours are from 7.30am to 4pm on weekdays and is closed on weekends. While Mohlakeng clinic operates 24 hours, seven days a week.
The healthcare worker added:
Morena Moloi, who has been a resident of Mohlakeng for more than seven years, said he is not only confused by the delay, but is also sympathetic to the nurses.
"As the community, we are very confused because we were told that this facility is for our benefit, but four years after the date we knew that it would be open, we are still awaiting," Moloi said, adding that another frustration was that there was no nearby hospital in the area. He said the nearest hospital is Leratong hospital, which is about "30 minutes or three taxis away from Mohlakeng".
He said:
THE DEPARTMENT RESPONDS
Asked why the facility had yet to be opened, Ngobese told City Press that the project experienced challenges in terms of the delays on the date of the site handover due to construction permits as well as the hijacking of the project by formations posing as business forums, adding that "there were also some delays on the payments of service providers".
However, he was adamant that the facility would be complete and handed over on or before 30 June this year, with R90 million worth of work still needing to be done.
DISSATISFIED MUNICIPALITY
Meanwhile, Tshidiso Tlharipe, spokesperson for the Rand West City Local Municipality, explained to City Press that the facility was in fact requested by the municipality because "we have two small clinics and over the years, Mohlakeng has experienced a drastic increase in housing development and in turn, an increase in the population in the area".
"This has thus led to overcrowding in the two existing small clinics the community currently has, and were constructed a long time ago," he said.
"We requested a community health centre, which would be able to relieve and alleviate the issue of overcrowding in the two clinics."
However, with the facility still under construction six years on, like his fellow residents, Tlharipe said the municipality was "unhappy with the lack of progress on the construction".
READ: Employees retrenched from old age home claim ‘unethical dismissal’, demand jobs back
"The facility should have been completed years ago and the community should have had access to it a long time ago. We want the community to enjoy the benefits. The delay is a delay in bringing services to our people," he said and instructed the department to "speedily instruct the contractor to complete their work so that our people can enjoy the benefit of that facility".
And added:
DYSFUNCTIONAL DEPARTMENT
DA's Gauteng health shadow MEC Jack Bloom did not mince his words and attributed the delay to the "dysfunctional department".
He lamented: "The department of infrastructure development never finishes a project on time or within budget. They choose building companies that cannot deliver, and they often change companies midway. Meanwhile, patients suffer from the delays."
"A shake-up is needed to root out incompetents and corruption, and put in people who can do the job."
