Thursday, June 6, 2013

HRC weighs into fray over bucket toilets

Cape Town - The South African Human Rights Commission is to meet Mayor Patricia De Lille to discuss the provision of portable flush toilets in Cape Town.

De Lille said on Wednesday she had called on the commission to help the city eradicate the bucket system by educating residents on the benefits of using portable flush toilets.

She said some residents refused to accept the portable flush toilets and the city could not compel residents to accept them.

But the commission has declined her request.

Spokesman Isaac Mangena said on Wednesday: “We will not be taking the mayor up on that call because we do not agree with the way she is rolling out the sanitation programme in the Western Cape.”

Mangena said the commission was investigating the city’s sanitation programme and the commission’s chairman, Mabedle Lawrence Mushwana, would meet the mayor to discuss the programme.

“As it stands now we don’t support the way she is rolling out the programme.

“There are several issues we don’t agree with, like the fact that she claimed that people were happy to use the bucket system. We do not agree with that – the bucket system has to be eradicated completely,” Mangena said.

The commission had also been looking at the Social Justice Coalition’s findings on the provision and maintenance of chemical toilets in Khayelitsha, he said.

“We believe that if the mayor considers the Social Justice Coalition’s recommendations she will be addressing some of the challenges in sanitation provision.”

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