Residents of the Cape Flats continue to endure a 13-year wait for a new facility to replace the closed GF Jooste Hospital. The phased decommissioning of the hospital in Manenberg began in 2013, with services gradually transferred to other facilities before the hospital was officially closed in July 2014.
Residents said the lengthy delay in restoring the facility, which was once one of the busiest trauma hospitals serving gang-ridden communities on the Cape Flats, has prevented them from receiving life-saving emergency care swiftly.
Manenberg activist and resident Faranaaz Sims said the hospital played a critical role in the community, with many residents relying on it for trauma and emergency care, as it was close and accessible.
“For communities on the Cape Flats, this has affected poor and working-class families the most,” she said.
“Ambulance waiting times, transport costs, and delays in receiving medical care have become a serious concern. Many people still feel disappointed because the community was promised a replacement hospital, but years later residents are still waiting.”
The Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness told Sunday World the hospital was decommissioned because it was overcrowded, offered limited services, and its ageing infrastructure couldn’t be upgraded.
According to the department, two new district hospitals opened in Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha around the same time, resulting in increased capacity. However, Sims noted that those facilities frequently experience overcrowding and immense pressure.
“Even after arriving at those hospitals, residents sometimes have to wait for two or three days because the hospitals are overcrowded,” she said.
MEC for Health in the Western Cape Mireille Wenger said the planned Metro West Regional Hospital is currently in the concept design phase and has already passed key planning milestones, including receiving national approval to move forward to the next stage.
She said the hospital is not a like-for-like replacement of GF Jooste Hospital but a significant step up with more than 400 beds. “This is a once-in-a-generation, multi-billion-rand investment. Before construction begins, detailed design work, regulatory approvals, and funding processes must be completed to ensure the hospital is built properly and delivers long-term value.”
“We acknowledge that the health system is under pressure. That is precisely why this project remains a priority.”
Good Party secretary-general Brett Herron said he posed questions to Wenger in March about the long-delayed replacement of GF Jooste Hospital but described her response as “long on excuses and mitigations” for the 13-year delay.
According to Herron, the hospital housed a trauma unit that was so respected that foreign trauma and emergency specialists wanted to gain experience there. “The MEC for Health says that the Mitchells Plain Hospital serves this community now, but the Mitchells Plain Hospital only has 420 beds and already serves the vast community of Mitchells Plain.
“Clearly the DA government made a monumental and inexplicable blunder in shutting down the GF Jooste Hospital when they had no real plans.”
At the same time union Nehawu in the Western Cape called on the DA to account for its failure since 2014 to build a new healthcare facility for the benefit of poor and working-class communities, which continue to bear the brunt of inadequate access to healthcare.
- Residents of Cape Flats have waited 13 years for a replacement facility after the phased closure of GF Jooste Hospital, which ended in 2014.
- The closure has led to long ambulance wait times, high transport costs, and delayed emergency care, heavily affecting poor and working-class families in the area.
- The Western Cape Department of Health cited overcrowding, limited services, and outdated infrastructure as reasons for the hospital's closure, with two new hospitals opening nearby but facing their own capacity issues.
- The new Metro West Regional Hospital is in the concept design phase, planned as a 400+ bed facility, but construction and funding are pending, prolonging delays.
- Opposition and unions criticize the provincial government for the prolonged delay and mismanagement, arguing communities still lack adequate emergency healthcare access.
Residents of the Cape Flats continue to endure a 13-year wait for a new facility to replace the closed GF Jooste Hospital.
Residents said the lengthy delay in restoring the facility, which was once one of the busiest trauma hospitals serving gang-ridden communities on the Cape Flats, has prevented them from receiving life-saving emergency care swiftly.
Manenberg activist and resident Faranaaz Sims said the hospital played a critical role in the community, with many residents relying on it for trauma and emergency care, as it was close and accessible.
“For communities on the Cape Flats, this has affected poor and working-class families the most,” she said.
“
“Even after arriving at those hospitals, residents sometimes have to wait for two or three days because the hospitals are overcrowded,” she said.
MEC for
“We acknowledge that the health system is under pressure.
Good Party secretary-general Brett Herron said he posed questions to
“Clearly the DA government made a monumental and inexplicable blunder in shutting down the GF Jooste Hospital when they had no real plans.”
At the same time union Nehawu in the Western Cape called on the DA to account for its failure since 2014 to build a new healthcare facility for the benefit of poor and working-class communities, which continue to bear the brunt of inadequate access to healthcare.
