Cape Town - The more than 500 refugees at the Paint City Bellville camp are once again fearing for their health after their toilet facilities were withdrawn nearly a month ago, following the expiry of the contract to provide them.
Meanwhile, the City and officials from the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) have all denied responsibility for the situation, with each claiming the responsibility lies on the shoulders of the other.
Asked for comment on the situation, DPWI spokesperson, Thami Mchunu said: “Please note that the property in question belongs to the City of Cape Town, and Home Affairs is the responsible department for matters pertaining to refugees. Kindly refer this enquiry to these two entities.”
However, City spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo said: “The City neither owns, operates nor bears the costs of the mentioned refugee site. This is the responsibility of the national government, specifically the owner of the land – the Department of Public Works and the Department of Home Affairs.”
Meanwhile, nearly a week after the Cape Argus sent queries to the Department of Home Affairs, no response has been forthcoming at the time of writing.
In November last year it was reported that the mobile toilets had been removed after having been vandalised.
The toilets were later returned, but at the beginning of April the service was withdrawn. The refugees say they have no details of the service provider except that the service was previously the responsibility of the DHA.
A spokesperson for the refugees, David Azezh, said that a worker for the company that had been contracted to service the portable toilets at the site had told him that they were no longer able to service the 10 mobile toilets on a daily basis.
Azezh said: “In a 17-day period they only managed to service two toilets. Really this is a very bad situation we are facing. It is unbelievable that 500 people, including women and children are forced to use makeshift toilets.”
Another refugee spokesperson, Hafiz Mohammad said: “The officials will not answer you, I know because this is how they try to torture us.”
He said until March this year, the servicing of the toilets had been a daily routine but that in April the contract went to a different service provider whose worker had only appeared after 17 days to clean the toilets but did not do the job as he claimed not to have been paid.
“All we know is that Home Affairs is behind the contracts and they are responsible,” he said.
The Cape Argus has again approached the DHA for a response.