This in the wake of protests in Boitumelong in Bloemhof where the Boitumelong and Coverdale Clinics were shut down when angry residents took to streets, protesting against the police’s alleged improper relationship with local gang groups. This reportedly continues to terrorise the locals.

On Monday the Department of Health spokesperson, Tebogo Lekgethwane, told OFM News that the closure of these facilities by protesting residents is a worrying trend and they will continue to engage different government structures to sort out the impasse.

In 2018, residents of Ramokokastad also shut down a health care facility in the area during a standoff between the BaPhalane Traditional Council and the local residents who accuse the council of maladministration.

Lekgethwane says the department has been hard at work trying to address this.

While there have been incidents where residents shut down and destroyed these facilities, there have limited arrests and prosecutions. On Friday 23 February 2019 the Health MEC, Madoda Sambatha, appointed a task team to investigate concerns raised by workers at Witrand Psychiatric Hospital in Potchefstroom near Klerksdorp following a work stoppage. This as workers downed tools demanding the removal of the facility's chief executive officer and that management stop the "harassment and intimidation" of employees. The decision to establish a task team followed a meeting between Sambatha and worker representatives at the hospital.

OFM News