{"id":827936,"date":"2025-06-20T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=827936"},"modified":"2025-06-20T14:09:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T12:09:01","slug":"r28-million-spent-on-a-home-for-the-elderly-and-only-dilapidated-buildings-to-show-for-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/827936\/r28-million-spent-on-a-home-for-the-elderly-and-only-dilapidated-buildings-to-show-for-it\/","title":{"rendered":"R28 million spent on a home for the elderly and only dilapidated buildings to show for it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It has been over a decade since the elderly of Emfuleni, Gauteng, were promised a supportive and nurturing environment to call home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While R28.35 million has already been spent on the Boipatong Old Age Home, the site remains incomplete and idle, with construction long abandoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was once envisioned as a safe and supportive environment for its elderly residents, particularly those without family support, has become a symbol of protracted delays, with its future increasingly uncertain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boipatong, a name meaning ‘the place of hiding’ in Sesotho, has long been a community grappling with profound socio-economic challenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its expansion, a direct consequence of apartheid policies, resulted in severe overcrowding and woefully inadequate facilities, significantly intensifying the urgent need for dedicated elderly care facilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The township holds a significant, albeit painful, place in South African history, being the site of the horrific Boipatong Massacre of 17 June 1992.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was an event of political violence that claimed over 40 lives, many of them women and children, and temporarily halted democratic negotiations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against this backdrop of historical trauma and ongoing socio-economic struggles, the absence of appropriate facilities for its elderly population has remained a pressing concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discussions surrounding the establishment of an old age home in Boipatong stretch back well before 2015. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As early as the 2007\/08 financial year, Kgaugelo Lekgoro, then Gauteng’s MEC for Social Development, highlighted the severe disparity in elderly care, noting that only one in nine old-aged homes were situated in townships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lekgoro pledged that the department would “start building old-age homes in the 20 poorest townships on an incremental basis from one financial year to the next”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This commitment was echoed in the provincial department’s 2008\/09 budget, which acknowledged “an absence of appropriate facilities in the neediest communities.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A budget of R5 million, equivalent to R12.25 million in 2025 terms, was allocated for the “Boipatong Aged Centre,” with an ambitious projected completion date of March 2010. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this initial promise never materialised, and the focus eventually shifted to what is now referred to as the Boipatong Old Age Home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The entrance of the site, beginning of 2023 vs end of 2024. Images: Google Maps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

New project kicks off… and stalls<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The formal R44.35 tender for the construction of the home was finally issued by the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) in 2015. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project was initially managed and implemented by the ELM for the Department of Social Development (DSD). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Main contractors appointed for the project were JM Mcwango Trading and Makgotamishe Building Construction, with their appointment formalised on October 16, 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the tender award, the project quickly encountered significant hurdles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responding to questions posed to him by ActionSA MPL Funzi Ngobeni, Gauteng MEC for Infrastructure & Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Jacob Mamabolo said that it faced “capacity limitation, administrative challenges and community unrest.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This ultimately led to a series of contractual disputes. Critically, the appointed contractors were deemed to have exhibited “poor performance,” failing to deliver the full scope of work on time and to meet the agreed-upon targets, said Mamabolo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compounding these issues, the “protracted Municipality procurement process” further contributed to delays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The situation deteriorated to the point where, despite numerous attempts to revive the project, Mamabolo said that the municipality was unable to resuscitate it due largely to “community interference”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, these challenges, coupled with “cash flow challenges,” led to the contractors abandoning the site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This resulted in the termination of the original contractor and professional team by the Municipality, leaving the project without ongoing construction activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Financially, the initial approved budget for the project stood at R44,347,987.82. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of this, a substantial amount has already been spent: R25,197,292.13<\/strong> on construction and R3,151,412.37<\/strong> for Professional Service Providers (PSPs), totaling R28,348,704.50<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mamabolo explained that the aged care home project was withdrawn from ELM and handed to the Department of Infrastructure Development (DID), which began a comprehensive planning phase. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, a SASOL gas pipeline discovered near the site forced a suspension of planning due to safety concerns. The DID and DSD are now in talks with SASOL. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project’s scope, approval processes, and timelines depend on the outcome of these discussions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 10 years since kicking off, the completion date is now tentatively set for the end of 2026, assuming favourable conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No penalties<\/strong> have been applied for previous delays, but future contracts will include delay provisions, said Mamabolo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Supplied\/ActionSA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not good enough, says opposition parties<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For the community of Boipatong, the unbuilt aged care home remains another white elephant promised to uplift the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a disgraceful indictment of the Gauteng Provincial Government and a brutal betrayal of the elderly in Boipatong and surrounding areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bongani Dhlamini, ActionSA Emfuleni Regional Chairperson called it “an unacceptable delay.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over “R28 million has been spent with nothing to show for it but a dysfunctional procurement process, poor planning, and failed contractor appointments.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ActionSA has called for an urgent oversight visit to the site involving officials from the Premier\u2019s Office, the Department of Social Development, and the DID. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party is also demanding a full forensic investigation into the R28 million already spent on the project, as well as a clear, binding completion timeline with a public report-back to the Boipatong community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The dignity of the elderly must not be treated as an afterthought,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emfuleni Local Municipality was contacted for comment, but did not respond to BusinessTech by the time of publication. Comment will be added if received.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other images of the Boipatong Old Age Home<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Site in early 2023 vs late 2024<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than a decade after it was announced, Boipatong\u2019s old age home site remains abandoned, leaving the elderly without the care they were promised.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":827986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[19493,22853,22852,1652,18326],"class_list":["post-827936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-actionsa","tag-boipatong-old-age-home","tag-emfuleni","tag-gauteng","tag-south-afirca"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827936"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":828073,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827936\/revisions\/828073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}