State fails at-risk children as R55m orphanage stands empty 15 May 2021 Street life: Racing with a shopping trolley provides an all-too-rare moment of fun for the at-risk children of Mahikeng. Photos: Delwyn Verasamy A R55-million centre built in Mahikeng, North West, for at-risk children and orphans referred by the courts sits unused to this day following its temporary closure in 2019. Commissioned in 2011, the Boikagong Child and Youth Care Centre has been closed since 25 July 2019 because of registration “challenges” that at the time were described as “infrastructural defaults and issuing out of compliance certificates”. Back in 2019, the North West’s social development MEC, Boitumelo Moiloa, promised that all the children would be rehoused while the renovations and registration were finalised.