DIE Gaatjie, an informal settlement in Smutsville near Sedgefield that 200 families call home, has only five toilets to serve the entire settlement, which means one is shared by 40 families.
The settlement was built on an old dumping ground. Only three communal water taps are available.
Smutsville is between the N2 and the ocean, next to Sedgefield, and falls in the Knysna municipal area.
The Knysna municipality was asked yesterday what was being done about the situation, but said it did not have enough time before The Herald‘s deadline to formulate a comprehensive reply. The municipality said it would respond today.
A resident of Die Gaatjie said their home was close to the toilets, which was a big problem because the drain overflowed continually and the smell was terrible.
Another resident, Angeline Matthys, also said the toilets were a big problem and made people ill. She said electricity supply for the residents was high on her list of priorities.
“We don‘t get enough help from the municipality,” she said.
During a whistle-stop visit by various government officials as part of Project Dialogue, a communication initiative driven by DA Western Cape leader Theuns Botha, local community leader James Booysen welcomed the delegation and explained that the main issues for the community were decent housing, water, electricity and toilet facilities.
A high point is that a brand-new school building was recently completed in Smutsville which takes children from Die Gaatjie.
Doris Nayler, DA councillor for Sedgefield, said the municipality owned ground at the sports field and the brickworks, and recommended that the people of Die Gaatjie be moved there.
In addition to the conditions at Die Gaatjie, a potential disaster is waiting to happen in another area of Smutsville.
Nayler says some residents of Smutsville have dug platforms out of a massive, steep sand dune in the vicinity and erected homes there. If a big flood were to occur, she said, the dune could shift and bury the houses at the bottom. The RDP houses at the bottom of the dune were already cracking. - The Herald
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