Residents staying in the area of the Khutsong West clinic, says that they have received to assistance from authorities in their action to make the area of the disused clinic safer to the community.

  According to Mr Lucky Fafasa, he and two friends, Mr Diamond Funani and Mr Vusi Simelane, decided to take patters into their own hands last year when they noticed that the area around the Khutsong West clinic were going to waste last year. This clinic had been closed due to ground instability in 2010 and had, until this time, not been in use.

  “There were no security guards at the clinic for most of last year and we saw that other people from the area were vandalizing it. We did not want this to happen because the clinic is there to help the community,” Fafasa told the Herald.

  He added that the clinic’s yard, as well as the open grounds next to the clinic became so overgrown that it became a health and safety hazard. These grounds were previously used as a dumping ground because the ground was unsafe because of sinkholes that occurred there.

  “We realized that criminals were hiding stolen goods in the bushes and some people also picked up needles that had been taken from the clinic. We realized that it was only a matter of time before criminals were going to start hiding in the bushes, waiting to rape or rob someone,” Fafasa told the Herald.

No assistance

Despite the fact that they were receiving no assistance from other members of the community, the youths decided to start to clean up the yard and the grounds next to it themselves.

  They used their own equipment as well as equipment borrowed from friends in the area and cleaned up the hospital grounds. They also obtained locks and keys to keep it secure while there were no officials around.

  “At times we even guarded the clinic ourselves to make sure that no-one vandalized it,” Simelane told the Herald.

  The enthusiastic group also organized for municipal workers, who were busy with maintenance in the area, to scrape a road on the yard next to the clinic.

  They filled up the sinkholes on this yard and cleaned it to such an extent that young people from the area could use it for sport. The group also started a youth club in the cleaned-up clinic, to which they say about 150 youngsters belonged.

  “We spoke to an official of the municipality’s parks department and contacted the municipality several times to see whether we could get some recognition for our work. We received no assistance but in the end, even the ward committee started meeting in the clinic that we had cleaned up ourselves,” Funani told the Herald.

  According to the youngsters, municipal officials did point out that the area adjacent to the clinic was unstable, but could only offer and alternative that was too far for young people from the area to use with ease.

  The group’s hard work was forced to a halt when security guards as well as another group of workers arrived at the clinic on 16 December and said that they had been appointed to guard and clean it. The community members had to hand over the keys that they had to the main gate and leave their activities.

  When the Herald visited the grounds with the group last week, it was, however, overgrown again. The ground next to the clinic could also not be used anymore and was again becoming a crime hazard as weeds were growing about six feet tall in places.

Authorities shift responsibility

Although the municipal spokesperson, Mr Slums Magodielo, who arrived at the scène during the Herald’s visit, indicated that the municipality was only responsible for the open grounds next to the clinic as the clinic falls under the jurisdiction of the department of health, no formal feedback was received from the municipality by the time the newspaper went to print.

  The spokesman for the Gauteng department of health, Mr Sandile Gwayi, however said in turn that the department was just responsible for the supplying of health personnel and that the clinic also was the municipality’s responsibility.

  Neither the municipality or the department of health could give any indication on when the clinic would be re-opened.