The chapter on the controversial open-air toilet saga in Khayelitsha is almost closed.
Yet residents and the Human Rights Commission (HRC) said the most glaring problems around decent sanitation were far from over.
On Tuesday, residents explained how many still relieved themselves in open fields.
Others continued to use the bucket system. They said sometimes full buckets stood in front of shacks for days before being emptied.
They were speaking as the City of Cape Town and HRC went on a walkabout in the area to inspect the enclosure of the toilets.
This was ahead of the commission’s national public hearings on water and sanitation, which officially started in the city on Wednesday.
In 2010, the news of unenclosed toilets in Khayelitsha made national headlines. Residents explained how they were forced to use blankets to cover themselves when they used the toilets.
The city argued that residents had agreed to enclose the toilets themselves.
Violent protests spread through the area, with leaders of the ANC Youth League being arrested during the unrest.
The HRC also started its own investigation, finding that the city had breached human rights in not enclosing the toilets. And in the middle of last year, the Western Cape High Court ordered the city to enclose the more than 1 300 toilets.
On Tuesday, the HRC, mayor Patricia de Lille and city officials went to inspect the site.
They were accompanied by Andile Lili, a man who was central to the saga from the beginning.
Lili, an ANC Youth League member and now a city councillor, reported it to the HRC and was also one of the residents who brought the application before the high court.
Lili explained that some disabled residents were still struggling to use the toilets, because they were not wheelchair-friendly.
Out of the 1 316 toilets the city was ordered to close, 1 030 were closed.
In the rest of cases, residents declined to have them closed.
Some of them had already enclosed their own toilets.
Lili also pointed to a lack of proper drainage.
There were also nine plots where there was no water supply. At the scene, De Lille asked officials to investigate this.
Apart from these issues, De Lille said she was satisfied that the city had complied with the court order.
In the next financial year, she said, more than R2 billion would be allocated to informal settlements.
“In general, I’m happy we’re making progress. We’ll continue ongoing work to improve.”
After the walkabout, residents discussed their concerns with HRC members, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba and Shehaam Sims, the mayoral committee member for utility services.
Makhaza resident Lumkile Sizila said there was very little monitoring of sanitation services.
“There is a big gap between the city and the community. Communities have no choice.”
There were instances of 20 families using one toilet, and one tap for 100 people, said Sizila.
Before the meeting, Pregs Govender, the HRC deputy chairwoman, said: “Addressing the right to sanitation is a challenge. And it’s a reality for millions of people, who still in 2012 don’t experience that right.”
Sims stressed that it was not any city official’s intention of “undermining dignity”.
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