The ANC is
facing its own open- toilet scandal a few
days after Cooperative Governance and
Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka
said it was a Cape Town phenomenon which
would never happen under ANC governance.
Now, a new toilet saga is bubbling in
Viljoenskroon’s Rammulotsi township in the
ANC-run Moqhaka municipality, which includes
much of northern Free State and is based in
the town of Kroonstad.
When visiting Rammulotsi last week, City
Press’ sister paper Rapport encountered one
open toilet after another. Some of the
toilets were built as long ago as 2001 but
were never enclosed by the municipality.
A week ago, during a visit to Khayelitsha’s
infamous open toilets, Shiceka claimed such
things only happened in the Western Cape,
not in the rest of the country.
He said: “It is a Cape Town phenomenon,
which to me is surprising and strange.”
In the Khayelitsha case, the Human Rights
Commission found the DA-run City of Cape
Town had undermined the dignity of
residents by building open toilets.
Malefu Thato, who lives in Moqhaka ward 19,
says the toilet in a corner of her back
garden was erected in 2003 but the council
never put up a wall or roof.
Her family has reverted to the pit latrine
erected by the apartheid government.
The same goes for Paulina Tonyane (74). She
personally ensured that her open flushing
toilet was disconnected because it was a
magnet for the neighbourhood’s small
children, who use the toilets incessantly.
Her family has also started reusing their
old pit latrine.
She said: “To use the pit latrine is really
not safe, especially to those of us with
small children in the family. Even Zuma
promised us long ago that we would get
enclosed toilets.”
Especially problematic are the
circumstances of families whose plots
border that of the mayor, Mantebo Mokgosi.
Two of the mayor’s immediate neighbours,
both elderly women, have open toilets.
One of them is Oumakie Boholeng. Her open
flushing toilet is situated 10m from her
home.
She tried to partially cover it with
corrugated iron but fears the structure will
collapse completely in time, causing
injury.
When asked for comment on the situation in
Moqhaka municipality, Shiceka refused to be
drawn into the matter, stating that
national building norms for sanitation
provision do not include open toilets.
The minister merely stated that norms and
standards for acceptable sanitary
provisions must be developed urgently.
- City Press -
2010-07-11 13:00 -
ANC municipality builds outside
toilets for the community. Picture:
Bongiwe Gumede
