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“No Water for Six Weeks”: Joburg Residents Shocked by Malvern Clinic’s Ongoing Crisis

Published

2 months ago

July 9, 2025

Chiraag

Joburg clinic water outage, Malvern health facility, water tank issues, councillor Neuren Pietersen, Jack Bloom DA, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko intervention, Johannesburg Metro Council failure, primary healthcare crisis, Joburg ETC

Imagine needing urgent care at your local clinic only to be told there’s no running water, no working toilets, and no way to safely test urine or stool samples. That’s been the grim reality for thousands of residents relying on the Malvern Clinic in East Johannesburg.

For six straight weeks, the clinic has operated without a reliable water supply. This is not a rural outpost. It’s a metro-run, urban health facility that sees more than 5,000 patients a month, yet basic hygiene has become a luxury.

Buckets, Broken Toilets, and Buck-passing

On Monday, 7 July, DA ward councillor Neuren Pietersen and Gauteng MPL Jack Bloom paid a visit to the Malvern Clinic. What they found was not just disturbing; it was dangerous.

Lights were broken. Ceilings were cracked. Chairs were crammed into narrow corridors. The toilets? Locked. There was no running water to flush them. And when patients asked to relieve themselves, even those with diarrhoea, they were told to go home or walk to the nearby McDonald’s or petrol station.

Patients and nurses alike rely on a backup tank, but even that is inadequate. Water has to be collected by bucket, and it’s not drinkable. Handwashing is difficult. Infection risk is high. Routine medical procedures have ground to a halt. As one observer pointed out, urine and stool samples can’t even be collected safely.

A Clinic “Not Fit for Purpose”

According to a recent Environmental Health inspection, the building is not compliant with Occupational Health and Safety legislation. And it’s not just water. The entire facility is overcrowded, under-equipped, and visibly decaying.

Staff have been forced to close the clinic two hours early each day, shutting doors at 2pm instead of the scheduled 4pm, simply because the environment is no longer workable.

Who’s Responsible?

The clinic falls under the Johannesburg Metro Council. Yet despite the ongoing crisis, no meaningful steps have been taken to resolve the infrastructure failure or ensure clean, piped water reaches the building.

According to Councillor Pietersen, the issue stems from local water supply disruptions. He has lodged a complaint with Joburg Water and is calling for an inspection by the Council’s Section 79 Health Oversight Committee.

At the same time, Bloom has written to Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, calling for urgent intervention. He says a proper water supply could be restored quickly with minor upgrades: placing the existing water tank on a concrete base and installing a pump to connect it to the clinic’s pipes.

“It’s not an expensive fix,” Bloom emphasised. “But it needs political will and urgency.”

A Bigger Problem?

This isn’t just about Malvern. The DA is now calling for all public clinics in Gauteng to become water-resilient, warning that poor hygiene conditions in health facilities threaten the safety of patients and staff across the province.

As Johannesburg continues to battle intermittent water outages, clinics like Malvern are quickly becoming symbols of neglect, where basic rights like health and dignity hang in the balance.

Whether the council or province will act in time remains to be seen. For now, patients in Malvern continue to queue outside a clinic that lacks even the most basic human necessity: water.