The national government must do more to ensure the eradication of the bucket toilet system and must strive towards the complete phasing out of communal toilets, the Human Rights Commission says.
In addition to three recommendations aimed at getting the City of Cape Town to reinstall 51 toilets controversially removed from the Makhaza informal settlement, the commission's long-awaited report on the "toilet wars" made a further recommendation - urging the national departments of Human Settlements and Water Affairs to ensure better sanitation across the country.
"The National Department of Human Settlements, in conjunction with the Department of Water Affairs, should intervene more actively in all provinces, to ensure that its stated policy of ensuring the eradication of the bucket system is achieved more expeditiously throughout the country.
"This intervention should strive for the phasing out of the communal toilets and ensure that all toilets installed are adequately enclosed," the commission said.
According to the latest general household survey conducted by Stats SA in July last year, 4.2 percent of households in the Western Cape had no toilet facilities or made use of bucket toilets.
The Eastern Cape, where 18.9 percent of households had no toilets, scored the worst.
Limpopo (8.8 percent), the Northern Cape (8.7 percent) and the Free State (7.5 percent) also fared badly.
Gauteng (1.6 percent), North West (3.9 percent), KwaZulu-Natal (6.3 percent) and Mpumalanga (5 percent), like the Western Cape, fell below the national average of 6.6 percent of households without toilets.
Chris Vick, the spokesman for Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale, did not respond to requests for comment on the commission's recommendations and its implications.
But Butch Steyn, the DA's shadow minister for human settlements, was sceptical about whether the commission's ruling would spur the government into providing services faster.
"There is no final date (in the commission report) by which they must get rid of the bucket system, and that clearly leaves it open for national government," Steyn said.
"They can always say they can't (implement the recommendation) because they don't have the resources."
The city said it would have to first study the commission's report before commenting on how it would proceed.
The commission cannot force those who appeared before it to implement its rulings, so it remains to be seen whether the city will abide by the commission's recommendations.
It has been recommended that the city reinstall "with immediate effect" 51 toilets removed after the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) and residents prevented them from being enclosed with corrugated iron structures.
The commission said the city should adequately enclose the reinstalled toilets and inform the commission of its progress every month.
However, in a letter to Local Government Minister Sicelo Shiceka, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has said the households that had toilets removed still had access to concrete-enclosed toilets, in line with the national ratio of one toilet for every five households.
"The City of Cape Town and the Western Cape provincial government have therefore not violated any constitutional or policy prescript with regard to the provision of services in Makhaza.
"All residents in the community have access to toilet facilities," Zille said.
She said that when studying the commission report, the city and province would consider the norms required under the housing code and the implications of increasing this to a 1:1 ratio of concrete enclosed toilets.
Zille said the party would then also expect this "new norm" to be applied equitably across the country.
Both Zille and Shiceka's representatives confirmed that a joint visit to Makhaza would not take place this week, as some had expected, and that a later date for the visit had not yet been set.
In addition to three recommendations aimed at getting the City of Cape Town to reinstall 51 toilets controversially removed from the Makhaza informal settlement, the commission's long-awaited report on the "toilet wars" made a further recommendation - urging the national departments of Human Settlements and Water Affairs to ensure better sanitation across the country.
"The National Department of Human Settlements, in conjunction with the Department of Water Affairs, should intervene more actively in all provinces, to ensure that its stated policy of ensuring the eradication of the bucket system is achieved more expeditiously throughout the country.
"This intervention should strive for the phasing out of the communal toilets and ensure that all toilets installed are adequately enclosed," the commission said.
According to the latest general household survey conducted by Stats SA in July last year, 4.2 percent of households in the Western Cape had no toilet facilities or made use of bucket toilets.
The Eastern Cape, where 18.9 percent of households had no toilets, scored the worst.
Limpopo (8.8 percent), the Northern Cape (8.7 percent) and the Free State (7.5 percent) also fared badly.
Gauteng (1.6 percent), North West (3.9 percent), KwaZulu-Natal (6.3 percent) and Mpumalanga (5 percent), like the Western Cape, fell below the national average of 6.6 percent of households without toilets.
Chris Vick, the spokesman for Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale, did not respond to requests for comment on the commission's recommendations and its implications.
But Butch Steyn, the DA's shadow minister for human settlements, was sceptical about whether the commission's ruling would spur the government into providing services faster.
"There is no final date (in the commission report) by which they must get rid of the bucket system, and that clearly leaves it open for national government," Steyn said.
"They can always say they can't (implement the recommendation) because they don't have the resources."
The city said it would have to first study the commission's report before commenting on how it would proceed.
The commission cannot force those who appeared before it to implement its rulings, so it remains to be seen whether the city will abide by the commission's recommendations.
It has been recommended that the city reinstall "with immediate effect" 51 toilets removed after the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) and residents prevented them from being enclosed with corrugated iron structures.
The commission said the city should adequately enclose the reinstalled toilets and inform the commission of its progress every month.
However, in a letter to Local Government Minister Sicelo Shiceka, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has said the households that had toilets removed still had access to concrete-enclosed toilets, in line with the national ratio of one toilet for every five households.
"The City of Cape Town and the Western Cape provincial government have therefore not violated any constitutional or policy prescript with regard to the provision of services in Makhaza.
"All residents in the community have access to toilet facilities," Zille said.
She said that when studying the commission report, the city and province would consider the norms required under the housing code and the implications of increasing this to a 1:1 ratio of concrete enclosed toilets.
Zille said the party would then also expect this "new norm" to be applied equitably across the country.
Both Zille and Shiceka's representatives confirmed that a joint visit to Makhaza would not take place this week, as some had expected, and that a later date for the visit had not yet been set.
- Cape Argus
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