Some Khayelitsha residents have to pay up to R10 each time they want to use the toilets at their neighbours' homes because they don't have their own ablution facilities.
Residents in QQ Section in Site B, who live in shacks, fork out between 50c and R10 to their neighbours who live in formal houses.
In another section of the city's sprawling township, Site C, residents have to relieve themselves on a stretch of grass in full view of passing cars on the N2.
There are toilets nearby in Site C, but some of these are locked by individual residents who hold the keys, while others are broken, damaged or overflowing with human waste.
Using the stretch of grass as a toilet is dangerous: residents say that they are mugged as they walk to the area. One man was stabbed in the face and robbed of his cellphone earlier this year.
When the Cape Argus visited the area this week, human faeces littered the grassy area and the stench was overpowering.
It is not only adults who use the field as a toilet. Parents fear that their children are risking their lives.
Residents who use the area regularly said they had few options because the closest toilets were too far from their homes.
Some said they walked to a neighbouring area in Site C to use toilets provided by the City of Cape Town.
Thokoza Thulumani, who accompanied her two young daughters when they needed to use the grassy patch, said she "did not feel right" about using the field.
"Sometimes these little children want to run into the street (the N2); it's not safe for them," she said.
Mzimasi Kese, 31, said "having to go" in the open made him "feel bad".
"I don't feel right because so many people driving past in their cars can see you going."
Kese said sometimes people brought toilet paper while others used newspaper which they softened by rubbing.
There are 12 concrete flush toilets in Site C.
About six of these are locked and others have been vandalised or are blocked and have plumbing defects.
Nomfusi Jezile, who uses these toilets, said the keys to the locked toilets were kept by some residents and could be obtained when requested.
"It's better when they keep the keys because the toilets are cleaner and the children can't play in them," she said.
Ward councillor Nontsomi Billie said the city had the toilets for the area, but that there was no land on which to erect them.
She said some people in the area used the portable toilet system.
"If the toilets are not enough, they (the residents) should tell the street committee members who report it to me and I contact the city and processes are put in place," she said.
Residents in Site B's QQ section, who have been paying their neighbours in Q Section to use their outdoor toilets, said there were no toilets in QQ Section. They said they had been paying anything from 50c to R10 for about the past three years.
Steven Mhaga, who lives in QQ Section, said he always used the same toilet and regularly had to fork out 50c.
He said he had been told that the reason for the fee was to contribute to water and electricity.
QQ Section's Dumisani Jack also pays 50c.
"It becomes a problem sometimes because I don't always have money, or I can't get a toilet," he said.
Others said they were charged R10. The city's director for the Water and Sanitation Department, Philemon Mashoko, said the city had a monitoring and evaluation team conducting regular checks at all informal
settlements.
He said he was not able to comment on the legality of people renting out toilets. But he added that the city's Water and Sanitation Department would assess the situation. Mashoka said residents in Q Section and QQ Section had refused to accept "porta-potties because they were promised houses".
"The Water and Sanitation Department will investigate the possibility of providing temporary access to sanitation where the units will be placed on the periphery of the area due to availability of space," Mashoka said. Gavin Silber, the co-ordinator of the Social Justice Coalition, said the root of the toilet problem was the housing backlog.
The coalition's research showed that 500 000 people in Cape Town do not have access to basic sanitation. It is estimated that 50 000 people from others parts of the country stream into Cape Town each year, placing an even greater strain on the city's services.
Last year a report commissioned by the city's housing department showed that the backlog increased by 18 000 units each year.
Silber said that in the interim the city should do more to maintain the toilets. "The city needs to recognise its short-comings with sanitation; there needs to be better maintenance and monitoring." He said one the coalition members had been stabbed in May while using a field to relieve himself.
Mayor Dan Plato said the city could not meet the demand for services in informal settlements, citing a problem of "supply and demand".
He explained that in high-density shack settlements there was little room for essential services like access routes or space for toilets.
- Cape Argus
Residents in QQ Section in Site B, who live in shacks, fork out between 50c and R10 to their neighbours who live in formal houses.
In another section of the city's sprawling township, Site C, residents have to relieve themselves on a stretch of grass in full view of passing cars on the N2.
There are toilets nearby in Site C, but some of these are locked by individual residents who hold the keys, while others are broken, damaged or overflowing with human waste.
Using the stretch of grass as a toilet is dangerous: residents say that they are mugged as they walk to the area. One man was stabbed in the face and robbed of his cellphone earlier this year.
When the Cape Argus visited the area this week, human faeces littered the grassy area and the stench was overpowering.
It is not only adults who use the field as a toilet. Parents fear that their children are risking their lives.
Residents who use the area regularly said they had few options because the closest toilets were too far from their homes.
Some said they walked to a neighbouring area in Site C to use toilets provided by the City of Cape Town.
Thokoza Thulumani, who accompanied her two young daughters when they needed to use the grassy patch, said she "did not feel right" about using the field.
"Sometimes these little children want to run into the street (the N2); it's not safe for them," she said.
Mzimasi Kese, 31, said "having to go" in the open made him "feel bad".
"I don't feel right because so many people driving past in their cars can see you going."
Kese said sometimes people brought toilet paper while others used newspaper which they softened by rubbing.
There are 12 concrete flush toilets in Site C.
About six of these are locked and others have been vandalised or are blocked and have plumbing defects.
Nomfusi Jezile, who uses these toilets, said the keys to the locked toilets were kept by some residents and could be obtained when requested.
"It's better when they keep the keys because the toilets are cleaner and the children can't play in them," she said.
Ward councillor Nontsomi Billie said the city had the toilets for the area, but that there was no land on which to erect them.
She said some people in the area used the portable toilet system.
"If the toilets are not enough, they (the residents) should tell the street committee members who report it to me and I contact the city and processes are put in place," she said.
Residents in Site B's QQ section, who have been paying their neighbours in Q Section to use their outdoor toilets, said there were no toilets in QQ Section. They said they had been paying anything from 50c to R10 for about the past three years.
Steven Mhaga, who lives in QQ Section, said he always used the same toilet and regularly had to fork out 50c.
He said he had been told that the reason for the fee was to contribute to water and electricity.
QQ Section's Dumisani Jack also pays 50c.
"It becomes a problem sometimes because I don't always have money, or I can't get a toilet," he said.
Others said they were charged R10. The city's director for the Water and Sanitation Department, Philemon Mashoko, said the city had a monitoring and evaluation team conducting regular checks at all informal
settlements.
He said he was not able to comment on the legality of people renting out toilets. But he added that the city's Water and Sanitation Department would assess the situation. Mashoka said residents in Q Section and QQ Section had refused to accept "porta-potties because they were promised houses".
"The Water and Sanitation Department will investigate the possibility of providing temporary access to sanitation where the units will be placed on the periphery of the area due to availability of space," Mashoka said. Gavin Silber, the co-ordinator of the Social Justice Coalition, said the root of the toilet problem was the housing backlog.
The coalition's research showed that 500 000 people in Cape Town do not have access to basic sanitation. It is estimated that 50 000 people from others parts of the country stream into Cape Town each year, placing an even greater strain on the city's services.
Last year a report commissioned by the city's housing department showed that the backlog increased by 18 000 units each year.
Silber said that in the interim the city should do more to maintain the toilets. "The city needs to recognise its short-comings with sanitation; there needs to be better maintenance and monitoring." He said one the coalition members had been stabbed in May while using a field to relieve himself.
Mayor Dan Plato said the city could not meet the demand for services in informal settlements, citing a problem of "supply and demand".
He explained that in high-density shack settlements there was little room for essential services like access routes or space for toilets.
- Cape Argus
No comments:
Post a Comment