Hammanskraal residents are frustrated that a new community clinic built for them has not been operational since it was completed last year.
Nurses at Mandisa Shiceka Clinic have been assisting the community in temporary rooms despite the clinic built at an estimated R124 million.
Seeking to get things moving, the president of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) Reverend Kenneth Meshoe yesterday visited the on Thursday.
Meshoe said he would write a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa to express the cries of the people of Hammanskraal about this project, developed by the Department of Infrastructure Development for the Department of Health to provide a vital service.
He said the nurses and community members making use of the temporary clinic were not happy that they had to use mobile rooms and a tent, when the facility was right there.
“So, we have come to see this clinic, and it is beautiful. However, for years it has just been waiting to be used, but there is no progress. We feel like they are going to wait until election time to open it, and then say ‘look what we’ve built for you’,” he said.
In March, Premier David Makhura visited the clinic and criticised the DA-led administration in power at the time for failing to provide municipal services so that it could open.
The project safety manager Tebogo Skosana, of Thaw Construction, claimed the metro only installed the meter yesterday morning, a few hours before the visit by Meshoe.
He said the project was starting to cost the contractor because some criminals stole the fence and the wheels from the mobile containers. The contractor has had to fix some things in the temporary structures that had been used for so long now.
Skosana said his company was dealing with the Department of Infrastructure Development, and had only asked for a small extension in December 2018 to accommodate changes. Since then, he claimed they had been waiting on the municipality to provide basic services.
Since the City was placed under administration and then the country under lockdown, things had became worse.
Tshwane head administrator Mpho Nawa said the issue of providing services to the clinic was under discussion between the municipality and the Department of Health.
Spokesperson for Tshwane Lindela Mashigo said the clinic had been built by the provincial administration. “There are building control and City planning issues that the province must address to get the necessary approvals to enable connection of services. We are working with the province to address these issues,” he said.