KHUTSONG, Gauteng — The Khutsong South Extension 2 clinic, a healthcare facility initially valued at R65 million and slated for completion in just 11 months, remains incomplete 11 years after construction began. The prolonged delay has raised serious concerns about government project accountability, public fund utilization, and the escalating financial burden on both the Gauteng Department of Health and the local community.
According to a spokesperson for the provincial health infrastructure team, the project was initially awarded in 2016. However, the first contractor faced significant challenges, including community disruptions and labor disputes, which ultimately prevented the completion of the work and led to the termination of the contract.
To salvage the project, a new contractor was appointed in 2024. The spokesperson explained that the time lag between the termination and the new appointment required a comprehensive rescoping of the project to ensure proper execution moving forward.
The financial toll of these delays has been substantial. The initial contract budget was R65 million, of which the previous contractor had already spent approximately R55 million. The newly appointed contractor has been brought in at a revised value of R83 million to complete the remaining works.
While the government grapples with the ballooning construction costs, residents are paying a steep personal price. An elderly resident living just five minutes from the unfinished facility shared that he has spent years walking over four kilometers to collect medication, despite being partially blind and experiencing hearing difficulties. He noted that his impaired vision and hearing often cause him to fall and make daily communication a struggle.
For many other residents, accessing basic healthcare has meant bearing the recurring cost of monthly transport. Community members report spending thousands of rands traveling to alternative clinics, a burden that disproportionately affects families with young children and individuals living with chronic conditions. One resident expressed frustration over the decade-long wait, emphasizing that the elderly and vulnerable in the community simply cannot afford to travel to distant facilities.
The ripple effect of the delay is also being felt by the Gauteng Department of Health. A department spokesperson revealed that the initial budget to cover project-linked costs—such as mobile clinics, patient transport to nearby facilities, and related expenses—was approximately R84 million. Due to the extended timeline, the department now requires an additional R54 million, bringing the total estimated cost to roughly R134 million.
To mitigate the immediate impact on service delivery, the department has been deploying mobile clinics to the area, while residents currently access a functional facility located within six kilometers of the unfinished site.
Governance experts warn that this scenario is emblematic of a broader systemic issue within South African government infrastructure projects. They note a recurring pattern where tenders are awarded to companies that subsequently abandon the work.
These experts argue that the government must urgently review its procurement processes to prevent the repeated appointment of underperforming contractors. They point out that the problem is not isolated to the Department of Infrastructure Development but is a predictable weakness built into the procurement architecture across multiple government entities and municipalities, often driven by political actors and networks of extraction. Structural reforms are deemed necessary to eliminate these vulnerabilities.
Despite the challenges, the latest contractor is reportedly on site and working toward a revised completion date of 31 May 2027, according to provincial infrastructure authorities.
However, for the residents living in the shadow of this unfinished clinic, the true cost of the delays cannot be measured merely in millions of rands. It is measured in kilometers traveled, money spent on transport, and years spent waiting for the healthcare services that were promised to them more than a decade ago.
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