MEMBERS of the National Council of Province (NCOP) visited Grahamstown to check on Makana's progress to eradicate the bucket sewage system. Under the Bucket Eradication Programme (BEP), the Makana Municipality has already eradicated 4 261 buckets since a project team that was commissioned by the municipality in 2004 found that 5 391 households had bucket toilets.
In line with President Thabo Mbeki's national target, the municipality has set December 2007 as its deadline for the eradication of the remaining 1 130 buckets in the formal settlements. The bucket system will be replaced with flush toilets and a water-borne sewerage system.
Makana presented a report showing that 1 489 bucket toilets have been eradicated in the last year alone. Only 1 285 remain. According to the report the main challenge the municipality faces includes dealing with the buckets in informal areas. Another challenge is that contractors do not always perform as instructed. Representatives from the engineers' department said Makana has resolved to penalise contractors who do not perform. This will be incorporated in the supply chain management unit which, according to Makana councillor Julie Wells, is under construction.
The bucket eradication programme has been slowest in the Eastern Cape. However, Beauty Dlulane, the head of the NCOP, said that Makana proved to be the “most organised” and she was happy that there is evidence that work was being done to eradicate bucket toilets.
Buckets in informal settlements
The bad news is that BEP does not include the buckets in informal settlements. Thus people settled in non-residential zones without consent from the municipality will not be considered. Phakama Booi from the City Engineers Department said the buckets in the informal settlements cannot be eradicated until the areas have been “formalised”.
The problem with them is that, legally, they do not have owners. By law, municipal services can only be provided to legal owners of property. Therefore, the Department for Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) cannot release funds for informal areas. Renier van der Merwe, the town planner, said that this is why efforts are being made to formalise informal settlements. He said “We cannot sell the land without pegging the land”.
'Pegging' is where the land is physically marked with x and y co-ordinates for each stand. This is done after the town planner has drawn a map of the town with all boundaries marked on paper.
The formalisation of areas will be carried out under the Sanitation Programme whose target is December 2010. Booi said that the municipality is concentrating on the BEP. The Sanitation Programme has not started yet, but plans are under way for it to commence. Under this programme, the Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) toilets will also be removed.
Residents complain about bucket system
Bucket users are desperate to see the back of this inhumane system. There are times when the buckets are not emptied and they overflow. Flies and dirt-loving microbes thrive in these conditions, undermining human dignity and posing a potential health hazard.
"The worst is when it's hot – the toilets smell to the extent that one cannot bear it. We live in totally inhuman conditions,” says Jeanette Salman of Extension 6. “Bucket collectors also exacerbate the problem for us because when the bucket is full to capacity they just tip some of it on the ground, fearing that it will spill onto them when they carry it,” she continued.
“I wish the government would do something about this,” she adds.
There is good and bad news.
The blind also find themselves walking into dirty buckets in the streets of the township. Salman said: “When there are ceremonies or family gatherings we experience lots of problems because the bucket gets full quickly and our neighbours complain when we ask to use their toilets.” Bucket collectors are equally unhappy. Ndokweni Sithembele, 43, has been a bucket collector for more than two years and says the reason he is still doing it is because there are no jobs. “Not everybody will be happy doing this kind of job. It is not a pleasant job at all but somebody has to do it. People in the township call us all sorts of names, forgetting that we are actually helping them,” said Sithembele, a father of three.
Health hazard
According to David Render from the Environmental Biotechnology Research Unit (EBRU), the bucket system is a health hazard to users and collectors. He said that VIP toilets are environmentally friendly. However, the VIP toilet cannot be used on rocky ground or where there is underground water but can only be dug where there is good soil. Pit latrines must be dug a minimum of 100m away from any underground fresh water to avoid contaminating a useful source of drinking water. The pit latrine is used in many rural areas in South Africa, however, they also fill up and have posed health threats to residents.
In Grahamstown the bucket system is being replaced with water-borne sewerage, a technology which Render says is by far the best environmentally. The water-borne sewerage system has been criticised as a water-intensive system which may not be sustainable considering the fact that Makana has experienced severe water shortages in the past. However, Pinky Hermanus, acting director of technical infrastructure and development, does not believe that this will be a problem in Grahamstown.
It is estimated that it will take at most another three years to eradicate the bucket system in our city, a legacy that has painful associations with our apartheid past. - Grocott's Mail
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