Cape Town: Disgruntled bucket system users in the Western Cape have expressed their dissatisfaction, as they continue to use the buckets, amid talks of the Western Cape government’s plan to eradicate the system by 2030.
Earlier this week the Western Cape’s water and sanitation department said it plans to clear the sanitation backlog and eliminate the bucket system by 2030. This plan is in line with the United Nations Millennium Sustainable Development Goals.
However, Khayelitsha residents who still use what is known to them as ‘Pota-Pota’ or ‘Mshengu’ (the bucket system) said the system was an inconvenience and hoped the backlog plan by the provincial government would be sped up.
Gcobisa Ngqokotya who is a resident of the newly established informal settlement in Khayelitsha, ‘Social Distance’ (SD) said this community was formed during the Covid-19 lockdown, after many residents lost their jobs.
“I moved to SD in October 2021 after I was retrenched due to Covid. When I moved to the community we used to relieve ourselves in nearby bushes as there were no toilets. Early this year, ‘Mshengu’ toilets were dispatched to us.
“Mshengu toilets are mobile toilets that do not flush. We relieve ourselves in the holes provided on the toilet seat. 20 of us share a ‘Mshengu’. These toilets can go two to three weeks without being cleaned. Usually there are trucks that come to drain the faeces and urine twice or thrice a week if we are lucky,” she said.
Ngqokotya expressed feeling unsafe when relieving herself as these toilets are on the periphery and there is no electricity in Social Distance.
“Sometimes while busy relieving yourself, you’ll hear a knock on the door. Sometimes you are not sure if the person knocking is an allocated member of the community to the ‘Mshengu’. Our children are not safe. It is not hygienic and it is not clean,” she said.
Tshepiso Selebed from Site B in Khayelitsha said her family uses the ‘Pota-Pota’ in which the bucket is placed on the toilet seat, and can be taken out to be cleaned and another placed for reuse.
Selebed said these bucket systems were first introduced before the ‘Mshengu’. She said this toilet was a City of Cape Town initiative but the community complained and asked for flushing toilets.
“The City did allocate a budget for it but the former ward councillor used the money and thus no flushing toilets were built. Recently, there was an allocation for new flushing toilets again but the community members who are employed to clean the bucket toilets complained about their livelihoods being compromised,” she said.
Selebed said the hygiene of these bucket systems causes health scares, and children are unsafe, especially ‘Mshengu’ users, as children can fall inside the toilet holes and die.
Community leader in Khayelitsha, Sakhumzi Mbapantsi said the bucket system posed many challenges in the community.
“We as immediate community leaders were not involved in the decisions of these toilets. It is ward councillors and the City that deliberate on such issues.
“Community members have complained about maggots in these toilets. Female community members have complained about itching and infections in their private areas caused by these bucket toilets. These toilets are on the outskirts and periphery. Our community members must walk a distance to access them, sometimes in the dark. There are so many of us. There are 120 toilets and 3200 registered community members,” he said.
Councillor Lwazi Phakade: “As the ANC we would like to dispute these allegations which seek to suggest that Ward Councillors used funds meant for toilets for their personal gains. This assertion is incorrect because the implementation of projects is not done by councillors but through line departments in the City so there is no way a councillor could get access to the funds directly or indirectly.
“However, we must also mention that we are sympathising with the communities of these informal settlements and understand their frustrations hence we are working hard to put pressure to the City to deliver services to these Covid-19 informal settlements all around the City. We are working hard to ensure that there is electricity and flushing toilets in these areas as basic needs that are enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Most importantly we are continuing to put pressure on the City of Cape Town to build houses and eradicate all informal settlements in Cape Town,” he said.
The Western Cape department of water and sanitation said the department would dispatch officials that include technical teams from various municipalities, in a meeting to take place soon, to launch a Provincial Sanitation Task Team to achieve the 2030 sanitation goal.