Cape Town - Leaders from informal settlements said the City can’t pride itself on eradicating the bucket toilet system while thousands of residents still used fields for relieving themselves and were exposed to danger by doing so.
The City recently declared that its informal settlements basic services department had eradicated the use of bucket toilets and now delivered sanitation services through approximately 13 000 full flush toilets, 10 000 container toilets, and 20 000 portable flush toilets.
The Non-Financial Census of Municipalities (NFCM) 2020 report released in July by Stats SA also noted that the City managed to eradicate municipal serviced bucket toilets, reducing the number from 84 in 2019 to zero in 2020.
However, Covid informal settlement resident Luthando Mcuntula said this meant nothing if there were thousands of women and children at risk of being raped and killed while accessing ablution services.
Mcuntula said this can’t be entirely true considering the widespread land invasions that took place when the lockdown started.
Currently, there are 497 established informal settlement areas in the metro with an additional 186 newly unlawfully occupied areas which sprouted up during the pandemic.
“Last week, a march was led by women to sub-Council offices in Site B requesting temporary ablution services as they are raped while seeking to help themselves in the bushes.
“If the City says it has eradicated the bucket system, how does it think these thousands of individuals from these unrecognised occupants have been coping?
“By now the City should at least provide the Covid community and other occupants with temporary services. It’s inhumane to leave people to their own devices as a municipality. It is apparent that since the City doesn’t recognise these informal settlements that also means we are not recognised as the residents of the city,” he said.
Khayelitsha BM Section community leader Thobile Funani said the portable flush toilets which the BM section, Ethembeni, and other areas used were equivalent to the bucket system.
“Maybe it is all good and well in the paper but our experiences on the ground do not reflect the City’s utterances. The only difference with the portable toilets is that you can keep them inside the house, however, the stench, especially in summer, is unbearable as it gets cleaned after a few days.
“While the City had also erected some of the full flush toilets, these are constantly vandalised or clogged or are at a walking distance,” he said.
Water and sanitation mayoral member Zahid Badroodien said the City has since the 2006/07 financial year erected 18 841 full flush toilets.
“The City aims to install communal toilets within 100m walking distance for all residents, and positions for the toilets are agreed upon with the community leadership prior to construction,” he said.
Badroodien said the City had set aside an amount of R274.9 million for servicing of informal settlements during the 2022/23 financial year.
He said residents incorrectly refer to container toilets as bucket toilets.