"Violent" protests over the great toilet debacle are being threatened by Cape members of the ANC Youth League and other Khayelitsha residents.
League members from Makhaza in Khayelitsha, and other community members last week destroyed the corrugated iron toilets the City of Cape Town erected. Some residents, supported by rowdy members of the league, demanded concrete units instead.
Chumile Sali, deputy secretary general of the league in the Dullah Omar region, said the march was "going to be violent. It is going to be bad. We'll have 3,000 members of the youth league, community members and members of the SA National Civics Organisation".
Sali said they had met Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor, whose constituency office is in Khayelitsha, who promised to speak to President Jacob Zuma on their behalf. Sali added: "But you can't expect anything from them (the government) because they tell us that it is a recession, yet their salaries are increasing."
Andile Lile, treasurer of the league in the Dullah Omar region and chairman of the 95 Ward Development Forum, said the league had been misrepresented in last week's row. "This is not a political thing and they are trying to make it political by blaming the ANCYL for destroying the corrugated structures."
Lile said league members who had torn down the toilets only did so at their own houses.
The issue is that in 2008 the city offered a choice to shack dwellers in the area: the city would provide one toilet, enclosed by concrete panels, for every five families, or one toilet for each family, provided the families enclosed the toilets themselves.
Most people opted for one loo per family, and 1 300 families did enclose their toilets. However, around 50 did not, covering themselves with blankets for privacy instead.
Lile said people with enclosed toilets had paid for it themselves. Concrete enclosures cost R840, and if people did not have the money they had to go without.
Brothers Mlungisi and Zolani Maseko, who live in Makhaza, said that they did not want the corrugated iron structure, and preferred to use one of the council's concrete-enclosed public toilets behind their house.
Zolani said while he did not want to share a toilet "with 10 other people", he had taken down the corrugated iron shelter at his house because he wanted a house with a proper toilet.
Lile said the people of the Ward 95 Development Forum had rejected the corrugated iron structures earlier this year. "We launched an application with the Human Rights Commission and the people destroyed the corrugated iron structures then, so why would they be happy with them now?"
Ntombentsha Beja, 76, said she wanted her own enclosed loo. She had been stabbed while walking from the public toilet that she has to share with five other families.
But the Makhaza incident is not the first collaborative effort between a municipality and residents. Gagu Tugwana, a spokesman from the City of Joburg, said they have been having problems with housing which has lead to strikes.
"We now approach the situation of moving squatters in collaboration with the residents. We move them row by row and they are not allowed to let anyone jump the queue as it halts the process for everyone."
He said that this approach helped the city to move squatters from an area close to Avalon Cemetery in Soweto to Legae, which is close to Lenasia.
League members from Makhaza in Khayelitsha, and other community members last week destroyed the corrugated iron toilets the City of Cape Town erected. Some residents, supported by rowdy members of the league, demanded concrete units instead.
Chumile Sali, deputy secretary general of the league in the Dullah Omar region, said the march was "going to be violent. It is going to be bad. We'll have 3,000 members of the youth league, community members and members of the SA National Civics Organisation".
Sali said they had met Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor, whose constituency office is in Khayelitsha, who promised to speak to President Jacob Zuma on their behalf. Sali added: "But you can't expect anything from them (the government) because they tell us that it is a recession, yet their salaries are increasing."
Andile Lile, treasurer of the league in the Dullah Omar region and chairman of the 95 Ward Development Forum, said the league had been misrepresented in last week's row. "This is not a political thing and they are trying to make it political by blaming the ANCYL for destroying the corrugated structures."
Lile said league members who had torn down the toilets only did so at their own houses.
The issue is that in 2008 the city offered a choice to shack dwellers in the area: the city would provide one toilet, enclosed by concrete panels, for every five families, or one toilet for each family, provided the families enclosed the toilets themselves.
Most people opted for one loo per family, and 1 300 families did enclose their toilets. However, around 50 did not, covering themselves with blankets for privacy instead.
Lile said people with enclosed toilets had paid for it themselves. Concrete enclosures cost R840, and if people did not have the money they had to go without.
Brothers Mlungisi and Zolani Maseko, who live in Makhaza, said that they did not want the corrugated iron structure, and preferred to use one of the council's concrete-enclosed public toilets behind their house.
Zolani said while he did not want to share a toilet "with 10 other people", he had taken down the corrugated iron shelter at his house because he wanted a house with a proper toilet.
Lile said the people of the Ward 95 Development Forum had rejected the corrugated iron structures earlier this year. "We launched an application with the Human Rights Commission and the people destroyed the corrugated iron structures then, so why would they be happy with them now?"
Ntombentsha Beja, 76, said she wanted her own enclosed loo. She had been stabbed while walking from the public toilet that she has to share with five other families.
But the Makhaza incident is not the first collaborative effort between a municipality and residents. Gagu Tugwana, a spokesman from the City of Joburg, said they have been having problems with housing which has lead to strikes.
"We now approach the situation of moving squatters in collaboration with the residents. We move them row by row and they are not allowed to let anyone jump the queue as it halts the process for everyone."
He said that this approach helped the city to move squatters from an area close to Avalon Cemetery in Soweto to Legae, which is close to Lenasia.
- Cape Argus
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