Thursday, December 11, 2008

Buckets kicked as Khayelitsha waits to flush

After waiting for years for access to flushing toilets, residents of the BM Section informal settlement in Khayelitsha have finally had 280 of them installed by the city.

About 5 000 residents, who have until now been using bucket toilets, will benefit from the new flushing toilets.

The city plans to install the next 140 toilets by next March.

A resident of the area, Nokuzola Nedala, said she was very happy that she now had access to a flushing toilet.

The ward councillor for the area, Nosakhele Jelele, said the community was delighted to have the flushing toilets available to them.

"There were about 48 bucket system toilets that the whole community relied on.

"I'm so happy that they are getting proper toilets.

"We hope they will keep them in a good condition," said Jelele.

Blommie Hendricks, the city's Director of Development Services, said that because the area was densely occupied, it was not possible to install sewerage pipes in the middle of the settlement.

"So the BM community agreed that the city should place the toilets on the outside boundary," said Hendricks.

Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille told residents that the BM Section was one of five informal settlements where the city was planning to apply its new approach of providing a comprehensive raft of basic services.

According to Hendricks, the city will launch a survey of all informal settlement households in February, so that it can plan together with the community to put in roads, water, electricity, toilets and rubbish removal.

- Cape Argus

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