Elderly Nowinile Mzana always dreaded the idea of travelling to the clinic when she needed medical attention for several reasons.
Each time she needed to go, she had to wake up at the crack of dawn to beat the rush and long queues.
She also hated travelling in the back of a bakkie, squeezed together like chickens despite the nearest clinic being only 14km from her home in Mpindweni village in the rural hinterlands of KwaBhaca (formerly Mount Frere).
Sometimes she would return home without getting help despite spending almost the entire day waiting in the clinic.
But now she has one right on her doorstep, thanks to mining company Samancor Chrome Ltd.
The 67-year-old grandmother was among hundreds of residents from Mpindweni and surrounding villages present when mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe, health deputy minister Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, Eastern Cape health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth and representatives from Samancor touched down in her village to officially hand over the new state-of-the-art Mpindweni Clinic on Friday.
“We are happy now because if I go there in the morning, I am back home by 11am,” she said.
“I don’t have to spend R70 to go to Dangwana any more — the [Mpindweni] clinic is within walking distance from my home.”
The new clinic, including a nurses’ home, cost about R27.7m, with R17m coming from the Eastern Cape health department coffers.
Samancor corporate and transformation head Jomo Kwadi said the company had a commitment to build mutually beneficial partnerships in labour-providing areas like Mpindweni.
“This is a high quality facility which will provide services to seven villagers surrounding Mpindweni,” he said.
Pensioner Ntandazo Jokazi, 64, from neighbouring Mabhobho village, was also thrilled to get a clinic built much closer to his village.
He said he and other villagers had been forced to spend about R80 to get to other clinics in Lugangeni and Tholeni or the Gateway Clinic in town every time they needed medical care.
“Now I can just walk to this [Mpindweni] clinic. I just hope the government can also build a tar road leading to this place.”
Former mineworker Sizakele Majola, a 48-year-old father of two who was laid off after falling sick, described the opening of the clinic in his Mpindweni village as a bittersweet moment.
His job was terminated in 2015 and he has been struggling ever since.
“I am happy that we have a clinic here, but at the same time I am battling to feed my family and have to go to bed on an empty stomach because the company decided to terminate my contract,” he said.
Meth said they appreciated Samancor’s efforts as many Eastern Cape mineworkers often returned home sick with silicosis and other illnesses.
They then became a burden on the province’s health system.
Mantashe urged Dhlomo and Meth to ensure the clinic did not become a white elephant.
“Make sure there are no shortages of medicine and that there is enough supply of rubbing stuff for elderly people.
“We are going into the winter season and they will need it more than ever.”
He warned residents in Mpindweni that if the clinic was not protected from vandalism and theft it would not survive.
DispatchLIVE
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