Eastern Cape pensioners try to build their own clinic

Villagers started building their own clinic in 2014 and are hoping the government will finish and staff it. Photo: Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

• For years, villagers in Ugie have been hoping the Eastern Cape Department of Health will complete and staff the clinic they started building in 2014.
• The villagers managed to put up walls and a roof, but the two rooms remain unfinished, in spite, they say, of promises made.
• They say the mobile clinic does not come often enough and the nearest clinic is too far away.
• The Eastern Cape Department of Health says in other cases the department has provided support and has promised to send an official to Ugie.

In 2014, pensioners from eNkalweni village in Ugie, Eastern Cape, made a decision to build their own clinic.

Frustrated by years of failed requests to the government, people contributed R50 per household to buy material, including zinc sheets and cement. Women volunteered to make mud blocks, and walls and a roof were put up. But the two rooms are unfinished, without windows or doors.

According to resident Nothandazile Ndikandika, their late chief wrote to the government in early 2014 requesting a clinic.

She said officials from the Department of Health visited the area and held a community meeting.

“The department officials advised us that if we wanted things to move faster, we should start building,” said Ndikandika.

She said a site was identified during the meeting, and the department later fenced the land, raising hopes that construction would begin.

“But nothing happened after that,” she said.

The community went ahead and built what they could, hoping the government would step in to complete the project. But that has not happened.

Most residents in eNkalweni are elderly and rely on the old age pension. Others depend on child support grants, making it difficult to raise funds to complete the building.

Resident Bulelwa Mqamelo said access to healthcare is unreliable. She said the mobile clinic sometimes comes only once every few months, mainly to deliver chronic medication.

“When it rains, it doesn’t come at all. Sometimes we wait for hours and it never arrives, and no one explains why,” she said.

Mqamelo said the nearest clinic is in Ngqaqhala, and to get there villagers have to cross a river. Women often walk in groups due to safety concerns.

She said the community has repeatedly raised the issue with visiting officials over the years.

“The only thing we get is empty promises. The only thing the government needed to do was meet us halfway.”

“People here are pensioners. They use their grant money to survive, but now they must also pay for services that should be provided for free. For years, people have also used their own money to fix roads, with some help from children working in cities. But they can’t fix everything,” she said.

Eastern Cape Department of Health spokesperson Siyanda Manana said the department is not aware of the building or the fence.

“The only application we have received from eNkalweni was submitted last year,” he said.

He said in other cases where communities have started building their own clinics, the government has provided support where possible, deploying a nurse and other staff and supplying medication.

Manana said an official would be sent to eNkalweni to assess the building.

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