Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is in Cape Town this week to see for herself the sanitation issues faced by residents across the city.
On Monday, Madikizela-Mandela, who is head of the ministerial sanitation task team, listened to residents and NGOs at the Civic Centre, where she noted their grievances and recommendations.
Madikizela-Mandela said she would spend this week in Cape Town speaking to residents and looking at service delivery around sanitation.
“For a change, I am not going to give any political speech today,” she told the audience. “Be as honest as you’ve ever been in your lives. I’m here to listen.”
She said that when she was in Crossroads in 1994, she promised to get rid of squatter camps, the bucket system and to see to it that people got houses.
“Tell us where we have succeeded and failed you since 1994,” she said on Monday.
Madikizela-Mandela commended the Western Cape provincial government for its “sterling job towards meeting the demands of our people”, and urged the province to continue being an example to the country.
Gavin Silber, policy co-ordinator from the Khayelitsha-based Social Justice Coalition, said safety was an important part of people’s access to toilets in the area because the toilets were too far away, and some people had been assaulted and raped while walking to them.
He said there were also serious health issues like diarrhoea, the leading cause of the death of children aged up to five years old in Khayelitsha.
Silber said it sometimes took months for the toilets to be repaired and this was often not done properly. This led to a situation in which up to 100 residents had to share a toilet.
He recommended monitoring and maintenance in the short term.
Philippi resident Zukile Rafuza said Cape Town could not be considered one of the best cities in the world “while we still have the bucket system and people live in shacks”.
Seipati Nyelele, of the SA Red Cross Society, said the bucket system had to be eradicated because people’s dignity was being compromised.
Madikizela-Mandela said the residents’ concerns were “precisely what we needed to hear from you”.
“These are the recommendations we would want to implement ourselves, not an academic report.”
- Cape Argus
On Monday, Madikizela-Mandela, who is head of the ministerial sanitation task team, listened to residents and NGOs at the Civic Centre, where she noted their grievances and recommendations.
Madikizela-Mandela said she would spend this week in Cape Town speaking to residents and looking at service delivery around sanitation.
“For a change, I am not going to give any political speech today,” she told the audience. “Be as honest as you’ve ever been in your lives. I’m here to listen.”
She said that when she was in Crossroads in 1994, she promised to get rid of squatter camps, the bucket system and to see to it that people got houses.
“Tell us where we have succeeded and failed you since 1994,” she said on Monday.
Madikizela-Mandela commended the Western Cape provincial government for its “sterling job towards meeting the demands of our people”, and urged the province to continue being an example to the country.
Gavin Silber, policy co-ordinator from the Khayelitsha-based Social Justice Coalition, said safety was an important part of people’s access to toilets in the area because the toilets were too far away, and some people had been assaulted and raped while walking to them.
He said there were also serious health issues like diarrhoea, the leading cause of the death of children aged up to five years old in Khayelitsha.
Silber said it sometimes took months for the toilets to be repaired and this was often not done properly. This led to a situation in which up to 100 residents had to share a toilet.
He recommended monitoring and maintenance in the short term.
Philippi resident Zukile Rafuza said Cape Town could not be considered one of the best cities in the world “while we still have the bucket system and people live in shacks”.
Seipati Nyelele, of the SA Red Cross Society, said the bucket system had to be eradicated because people’s dignity was being compromised.
Madikizela-Mandela said the residents’ concerns were “precisely what we needed to hear from you”.
“These are the recommendations we would want to implement ourselves, not an academic report.”
- Cape Argus
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