Cape Flats residents' 13-year wait after GF Jooste Hospital closure

Lengthy delay deprives community of emergency care services

- By Siphokazi Vuso

The GF Jooste Hospital in the Cape Flats was closed in July 2014, and residents are still waiting for a replacement facility to be built.

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.