NOT ALL GOOD AT BOTTOM OF THE GARDEN

16 000 VIP toilets still needed – and of those provided, none emptied

BCM faces massive sanitation programme backlog , with 16 000 households still requiring VIP toilets.

Buffalo City Metro is facing a huge backlog in its sanitation eradication project after missing its targets by about 16 000 households.

This was revealed by BCM infrastructure head of department Nceba Ncunyana in a report tabled before council last week. Ncunyana revealed that 15 955 households still needed to be provided with ventilated improved pit (VIP) toilets.

The affected households are across 18 wards.

Although the national government had set time frames for all households to be provided with the VIP toilets by 2017, the municipality had failed to meet this deadline due to insufficient funds, according to Ncunyana.

“The implementation of rural sanitation was not sufficient to meet the national target of 2017 due to the scale and budget limitations,” he said.

In addition, BCM failed to maintain and empty more than 15 000 of the existing VIP toilets, creating a health hazard for thousands of residents who had to use them.

“The municipality needs to prioritise this programme as households with overflowing or full toilets are the same as households with no toilets.

“The [metro’s infrastructure] department has requested additional budget to maintain toilets.

“To date insufficient budget has been made available,” Ncunyana said.

In the previous financial year [2017-18] R40-million was allocated towards the project and 3 238 VIP toilets were provided.

In the current financial year, R63.5-million has been allocated to supply 4 687 toilets.

In the next 2019-20 financial year R55-million has been budgeted for the provision of 3 850 toilets.

Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday, affected ward councillors said some residents had little option but to use the bush to relieve themselves.

Ward 35 councillor Siyabonga Skolo, whose ward still needs 2 493 toilets, said the demand for new toilets had increased after the incorporation of 11 villages that previously fell under Amahlathi municipality’s jurisdiction.

Skolo said: “All we are asking for is implementation as the situation is embarrassing for the residents. It can’t be right that in 2018 people are still using the bush to relieve themselves.”

Ward 31 councillor Sindile Toni, whose ward needs 2 349 toilets, said: “We will get 500 toilets in this financial year but that is really small compared to the demand.”

DA councillor Sue Bentley said her party had asked for funds to be allocated to deal with the unserviced toilets too.

“We are busy building new toilets but not emptying and cleaning the existing ones.

“That means over 31 000 households are without toilets as there is a backlog of overflowing toilets putting people’s lives in danger,” she said.