Sizanempilo Clinic in Heidelberg was renovated but stands empty while the department pays rent to use an old building about a block away. Picture: Nigel Sibanda/The Citizen The Gauteng department of health is spending more than R8 000 a month renting premises for a Heidelberg clinic, while a department-owned clinic nearby is empty and overgrown with weeds. According to residents, Sizanempilo Clinic, on Mare Street in Heidelberg in the Lesedi municipality was renovated in October but remains unoccupied after its services were relocated to the nearby Heidelberg district hospital.
Meanwhile the department continues to pay for an old rental private property it has occupied for over a decade a block away on Ueckermann Street. Community members have raised concerns about what they describe as wasteful expenditure and poor planning, particularly relating to public health facilities across Gauteng under severe pressure due to budget constraints, staff shortages and infrastructure decay. “It makes no sense.
There is a clinic that belongs to the department, recently renovated, but it is locked and falling into neglect. Meanwhile, government pays rent for an old building,” said Lebohang Mahloane from Ratanda, who is on chronic medication. She said the rented property has been used as a clinic for over a decade and it is old, poorly maintained and less suitable for health care services than the upgraded Sizanempilo Clinic.
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Bouwe Wiersma, a local lawyer, said the unused clinic is deteriorating, with concerns about vandalism and theft if it remained unoccupied for much longer. He said the situation highlighted a broader systemic problem in the management of public infrastructure. “A contractor was appointed to renovate the facility but now it has been left to grow weeds.
I heard they intend relocating the clinic on Ueckermann Street to the empty building, but there is no movement on that,” Wiersma said. He said this was not just about one clinic, but a reflection of a lack of accountability and planning.
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