THE government has admitted that it will not be able to honour its promise of eradicating the bucket toilet system in formal settlements by the end of this year.
An InternAfrica - Bucket System history.
Some households in formal areas of the Eastern Cape which still use the bucket system will continue doing so until at least next March, the government‘s latest deadline.
And thousands of families in post-1994 formal settlements in the Eastern and Southern Cape would still use the bucket system far beyond this date.
This is because the government has now changed its tune, saying its current bucket eradication programme only addresses buckets in pre-1994 formal settlements.
There was no reference to pre- or post- 1994 buckets during the presidential address in January.
The department of water affairs‘ Eastern Cape sanitation manager Amanda Machimana said:
Asked how it was possible that the post-apartheid government had built so many formal homes without toilets, Machimana said that the availability of piped water was the main reason toilets were not installed in some homes.
Departmental spokesman Mandilakhe Zenzile said: “When implementing sanitation you have to consult with communities, and that may take up to six months. They come back and tell you that they don‘t want this, they want that and the other. Some areas are rocky and had to be blasted, delaying the process.”
He said unreliable weather patterns had prevented other projects from being implemented on time.
Makana municipality spokesman Thandy Matebese said that because human remains had been found in ancient graves in KwaNdancama, 60 buckets there had been exempted from the deadline.
“The SA Heritage Resources Authority is trying to address the issue of the bones, and we can‘t do any work there,” he said, adding that Sahra would complete its work in March.
Institute for Democracy in South Africa associate researcher Steven Friedman said it was disturbing to see that the government was failing to meet its commitments.
“Fourteen years into democracy we still have bucket toilets; it‘s unacceptable. The government has repeatedly, not once, committed itself to eradicate the bucket system but has failed to deliver. As citizens we need to hold government to account.”
He said the country had the resources to eradicate the system, but lacked the capacity. “We must make more noise and put the government in a tight position,” Friedman said.
In contrast to the Eastern Cape, only three bucket toilets are left in all the formal areas of the Southern Cape, according to the department‘s Western Cape sanitation manager Simphiwe Mashicila.
“Out of 235, the George municipality is left with only three buckets. They will be eradicated by the end of December, so they will meet the deadline.”
He said Knysna‘s municipal accounts showed that all pre-1994 buckets had been eradicated. “The remaining buckets are being addressed through the housing roll-out programme.”
The government has budgeted about R1,8-billion for bucket eradication over the medium term expenditure from 2005/6 to 2007/8.
Western Cape local government spokesman Vusi Tshose conceded that there were thousands of buckets in informal settlements in the Southern Cape, but he didn‘t know the exact figure.
- The Herald
During the annual state of the nation address on January 8, president Thabo Mbeki promised that by December 31, all buckets in formal settlements would be done away with.This was already a shift from an earlier promise to eradicate all buckets in formal and informal settlements...
An InternAfrica - Bucket System history.
Some households in formal areas of the Eastern Cape which still use the bucket system will continue doing so until at least next March, the government‘s latest deadline.
And thousands of families in post-1994 formal settlements in the Eastern and Southern Cape would still use the bucket system far beyond this date.
This is because the government has now changed its tune, saying its current bucket eradication programme only addresses buckets in pre-1994 formal settlements.
There was no reference to pre- or post- 1994 buckets during the presidential address in January.
The department of water affairs‘ Eastern Cape sanitation manager Amanda Machimana said:
“The government will eradicate buckets only in pre-1994 formal settlements.The province had in excess of 14,000 buckets in informal settlements, she said, adding that the statistics for buckets in post-1994 formal settlements were not readily available.
“There are other bucket systems in post-1994 formal low-cost houses. There is a different programme for those.”
Asked how it was possible that the post-apartheid government had built so many formal homes without toilets, Machimana said that the availability of piped water was the main reason toilets were not installed in some homes.
Departmental spokesman Mandilakhe Zenzile said: “When implementing sanitation you have to consult with communities, and that may take up to six months. They come back and tell you that they don‘t want this, they want that and the other. Some areas are rocky and had to be blasted, delaying the process.”
He said unreliable weather patterns had prevented other projects from being implemented on time.
Makana municipality spokesman Thandy Matebese said that because human remains had been found in ancient graves in KwaNdancama, 60 buckets there had been exempted from the deadline.
“The SA Heritage Resources Authority is trying to address the issue of the bones, and we can‘t do any work there,” he said, adding that Sahra would complete its work in March.
Institute for Democracy in South Africa associate researcher Steven Friedman said it was disturbing to see that the government was failing to meet its commitments.
“Fourteen years into democracy we still have bucket toilets; it‘s unacceptable. The government has repeatedly, not once, committed itself to eradicate the bucket system but has failed to deliver. As citizens we need to hold government to account.”
He said the country had the resources to eradicate the system, but lacked the capacity. “We must make more noise and put the government in a tight position,” Friedman said.
In contrast to the Eastern Cape, only three bucket toilets are left in all the formal areas of the Southern Cape, according to the department‘s Western Cape sanitation manager Simphiwe Mashicila.
“Out of 235, the George municipality is left with only three buckets. They will be eradicated by the end of December, so they will meet the deadline.”
He said Knysna‘s municipal accounts showed that all pre-1994 buckets had been eradicated. “The remaining buckets are being addressed through the housing roll-out programme.”
The government has budgeted about R1,8-billion for bucket eradication over the medium term expenditure from 2005/6 to 2007/8.
Western Cape local government spokesman Vusi Tshose conceded that there were thousands of buckets in informal settlements in the Southern Cape, but he didn‘t know the exact figure.
- The Herald
2 comments:
Whoops forgot to score a goal before year end - tell you what, let's move the goal posts...
LA-DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMA!!!!!!!!!!!
Oops new president...
new Promises...
LA-ZUUUUUUUUUUUUMA!!!
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