Johannesburg’s much anticipated new state-of-the-art forensic laboratory, initially budgeted with a price tag of R588m but now hovering around R703m, is still only 98% complete because of contractor disputes over non-payment, design flaws and project mismanagement, reports News24.
Despite an initial completion date of 2019, numerous setbacks have hampered the project, now apparently supposed to be finished in September this year, while in the meantime, the old forensic pathology laboratory in Hillbrow lumbers along in shocking condition.
Contractors for the new lab say they will not complete the building until they are paid.
In 2016, Maziya General Services CC was appointed for a 36-month-long project to build a four-storey lab to replace the decaying Johannesburg South Forensic Pathology Services (Jo’burg FPS) lab in Hillbrow.
It would also include a toxicology department to help police with DNA cases and office space for various departments, including detectives who would be moving in.
The Jo’burg FPS was supposed to be temporary when the lab was moved from the Constitution Hill Precinct in 1999, when the court was established, to make way for parking.
The current FPS building was condemned years ago but continues to operate under dire conditions. Regular complaints are of fridges not working and issues with the HVAC system (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), placing employees at risk and leaving a stench that taints the air outside the building.
Ground was broken for the new Gauteng Forensic Medical Services laboratory at the Helen Joseph Hospital grounds in Auckland Park in 2016, with a completion date set for November 2019. However, construction fell behind, and then the country went into Covid-19 lockdown.
The new completion date was supposed to be January 2023, but then moved to December 2023.
The Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (GDID) says the new lab has been stuck at “98% complete” since 2023, in May attributing the hold-up to the failure of the original design to comply with municipal by-laws and building standards.
But two insiders from developers Maziya General Services said the delay was tied to non-payment, which is when the company refused to complete the remaining work – some touch-ups, landscaping and building a fountain.
They said the company was owed R100m.
The employees invited News24 to tour the new facility, during which they outlined a litany of the problems encountered during construction.
“When we were about to start with piling (installing foundation piles below ground level), we realised they were not accurately designed…. The measurements were incorrect,” they said. Approval for the designs took four months.
The project thus only began in February 2017. Then there was an issue with the design of the concrete, the rebar and the formwork (temporary moulds used to shape and support wet concrete until it hardens), which were all under-measured.
This took eight months to correct, pushing construction to September 2017.
“Then there was a delay because the HVAC system was wrong and had to be redesigned, and the windows were also the wrong type for the building.”
This pushed the project back until 2018, and later, Covid-19 and lockdown then stalled work further until 2021.
News24 understands a new contractor was appointed in 2023, but left – and another new consultant was appointed two weeks ago.
The Maziya General Services project manager allegedly suspended work over non-payment.
“The narrative is that we (the company) are stalling the construction – but our hands are tied. We’re proud of the facility… It’s 98% complete, the labs are complete, the equipment is functioning – the problem is the damage to our reputation,” he said.
Maziya COO Lucky Qotoyi confirmed to News24 that the company was owed money but declined to comment further.
Sleek and modern
Inside the new facility, departments are colour-coded to make it easier for visitors to identify where they are, and the floors were specifically designed and imported.
The Jo’burg FPS in Hillbrow is the busiest in the country and receives around 4 000 bodies a year, more than double any other forensic pathology services lab in the country.
This has been catered for, and there are five cold rooms with 1 065-person storage space, as well as seven post-mortem examination rooms with cameras. One also has an auditorium viewing room with glass so that students and detectives can witness procedures, while an infectious diseases post-mortem examination room has sealing “airmatic” doors to prevent the spread of disease.
Jack Bloom, DA spokesperson on Health, said a report on the lab’s progress was tabled at a health oversight committee meeting last week, but that even after the project is completed and handed over to the Health department, occupation might not be immediate.
“The registered contractor wasn’t paid, the GDoH (Gauteng Department of Health) will blame the GDID, and vice versa. The projects they perform are never on time, never on budget. Meanwhile, staff work in terrible conditions at the Hillbrow lab,” he said.
News24 has seen the report on the construction of the lab, tabled last week during a parliamentary health portfolio committee meeting: under the heading “challenges”, it says “costs overrun due to compensation events”, where “compensation events” refers to the non-payment of contractors, according to Bloom.
The document reports that the GDID has submitted the revised budget needed for completion at R87m, and the Health department “accepted the proposal”. It further states that “the balance of all compensation events to be deferred”.
According to the document, the contractor has accepted the GDID’s proposal and is back on site, “but might leave the site again due to another dispute” between them and the department.
News24 asked the Health department for comment and was referred to the GDID. Neither responded to the questions.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Jo’burg R590bn pathology services building unfinished after six years
Half of SA’s forensic pathology units fail competency tests
Forensic pathology staff protest conditions
Gauteng’s ‘new’ R1.2bn COVID ICU hospitals lie abandoned and unfinished