Further delays of Mamelodi clinic will see more legal action

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07-04-2025
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Sowetan Live
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The construction of a R61m public clinic has stalled for eight months because of a legal dispute over the final costs and contractor refusing to vacate the site.

The Lusaka Clinic in Mamelodi, Tshwane, was scheduled to be completed in August last year to serve 39,000 people. But its completion is now on hold as the City of Tshwane enters into mediation with contractor Eternity Star Investments 231 over the city’s termination of the contract.

This follows the city’s urgent court application to have the contractor ejected from the site being struck from the roll.

However, the city argues it is prepared to take further legal action if the mediation does not yield satisfactory results.

According to a council report, the clinic has been under construction for years, facing delays due to budget issues and administrative setbacks. The project, awarded to Eternity Star Investments 231 in May 2020 for R61.2 million, has stalled at 93% completion.

The contract was terminated in August 2024 as the contractor disputed the city’s calculations of what work was done and how much money it was owed.

The city said the principal agent managing the project had completed a report with the final figures, but the contractor refused to take part in the process. As a result, some materials on the site couldn’t be properly counted or priced since the contractor didn’t share the necessary documents.

"Should mediation fail to yield a satisfactory resolution, the city will... pursue alternative legal avenues."

Lindela Mashigo, city spokesperson

City spokesperson, Lindela Mashigo, said the city needs to access the site to conduct a tender briefing for the appointment of a new contractor.

“The parties conducted a joint site inspection to confirm the quantities with comparisons between the city’s final account and the contractor’s final account. The parties will meet in the immediate future to finalise the settlement negotiations.

“Should mediation fail to yield a satisfactory resolution, the city will, after thoroughly considering all available options, pursue alternative legal avenues to address the matter and ensure that public funds allocated for the benefit of the public are properly accounted for,” he said.

Concerns were raised in the council's agenda about the cost and time implications of completing the construction of the clinic.

“Further,” the agenda reads, “the pending legal dispute and the delayed advertisement of the tender to appoint a replacement contractor [have] direct and negative implications [for] the appointment period (18 months) of the principal agents.

“Thus, the department will have to investigate a mechanism to align the construction period with the appointment period of the replacement contractor. The current concern is time, though depending on the ultimate appointment value, there may be cost concerns too.”

Thubane Nokuthutha, who lives across the road from the yet-to-be-completed clinic, travels to the Stanza Bopape Clinic 4km away, for medical attention.

“Having a clinic in another extension while I wake up to one right across from me is not nice,” she said. “I have to take a R15 taxi there and back, and still have to stand in a queue because that place gets really full because everyone is going there. Sometimes they even run out of medication because they are serving too many people.”

Contractor Keletso Setagane did not respond to calls or questions sent to him. When Sowetan called his partner, Mapula Setagane, he said we had the wrong number.