City of Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya conducts an oversight visit at the stalled Lusaka Clinic. Picture: Supplied
The stalled R49 million Lusaka Clinic project in Mamelodi township is severely impacting the community, leaving residents with no choice but to endure lengthy queues, often starting as early as 5pm, to access essential healthcare services at the nearest available clinic.
This was a picture painted by Ward 10 councillor Thabang Masemola, who this week conducted an oversight visit to the project with City of Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya.
He said construction delays at the health centre continue to put pressure on the Stanza Bopape Clinic, which is approximately 5km away from the area.
According to him, once completed, the health centre will provide much-needed medical services to the local community, reducing the burden on the other clinic.
“If you go to Stanza every morning at 5pm there are always people in long queues to access healthcare services. The clinic is overcrowded with clients. Lusaka was meant to alleviate the number of people consulting at Stanza and also to make sure they don’t travel a long distance. So, the completion of this one will come as a relief to locals,” he said.
Moya said the clinic was scheduled for completion in 2023, with the intention of providing essential healthcare services to the communities of Mamelodi and surrounding areas.
She expressed her disappointment that despite the passage of two years; the clinic remains unfinished.
“The residents asked for this clinic way before 2016 and we only started with the project in 2019,” she said.
She attributed the project's stagnation to the contractor’s lack of capacity to effectively execute the work, ultimately leading to the clinic’s delayed completion.
“There have been a lot of unwanted activities in this clinic where the sub-contractors were not paid on time, the employees had not been paid on time. Where we are as the city, we terminated the contractor and there have been some disputes on the legal processes and that is what we are dealing with now,” Moya said.
She talked about the need for the City to allocate a budget for the current financial year to enable the stalled project to resume.
“If you go to the surrounding area you will see the need for this clinic to be completed, and we do want to apologise to the residents of Mamelodi and the surrounding areas that this is not what they deserve,” she said.
She expressed optimism that the stalled project will get back on track, saying Health MMC Tshegofatso Mashabela is already working with the team to explore interventions to proceed with the project.
Former MMC for Health, Rina Marx, had been optimistic that her intervention and regular site visits would expedite the project’s completion, with an originally anticipated finish date of May 2024, however, the project remains stalled.
Once completed, the facility will boast 21 consulting rooms, including chronic, acute and mother-and-child sections.
Additionally, the facility will feature a fully-equipped dispensary, emergency room, and comprehensive auxiliary services.
rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za