Millions of rands are wasted monthly on rented clinics while department-owned facilities remain locked and deteriorating.
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 outrage over wasteful spending
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.
Structural problems and accountability gaps
Bouwe Wiersma, a local lawyer, said the unused clinic is deteriorating, with concerns about vandalism and theft if it remained unoccupied for much longer.
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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.
“Money that could be used to improve services is being wasted on rent,” said Wiersma, whose offices are across the road from the unused clinic.
He said urgent intervention was needed to ensure the clinic was occupied and public funds are used more responsibly.
Donor-funded projects left in limbo
According to Wiersma, the clinic was a TB and HIV/Aids treatment centre funded through the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) and the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief.
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He said it appeared the decision to relocate the services to the hospital came after US president Donald Trump’s decision early last year to cut US aid.
This comes as the department is projected to underspend R725 million in the 2025-26 financial year ending on 31 March despite crumbling hospitals, staff vacancies, unpaid suppliers and inadequate equipment.
Widespread infrastructure neglect across Gauteng
The wastage of public health infrastructure in Gauteng is widespread, with the Kempton Park Hospital, closed for almost three decades, continuing to drain millions of rands from the public purse to pay for security.
At Kopanong Hospital in Vereeniging, a R146 million Covid infrastructure project has stood incomplete for over four years. The building, intended to provide 300 ICU beds, is a concrete shell.
Last May, the department closed Khutsong West clinic due to sinkholes amid continued failure to address dolomitic instability.
And despite more than R700 million being spent on a new Johannesburg forensic laboratory, the facility in Auckland Park is incomplete due to shoddy workmanship.
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