Restore dignity by improving sanitation in SA

Yet another child has died after falling into a pit toilet at his aunt’s home in Diteteng village in Limpopo on Wednesday. The lifeless body of three-year-old Omari Mononoha was discovered by the police, inside the toilet, after he had been reported missing. This news came as we also reported that the Buffalo City Metro still has 15 955 households that are still without proper toilets.

Responding to the report about the toilet backlog in BCM, Ward 35 councillor Siyabonga Skolo said: “It can’t be right that in 2018, there are people still using the bush to relieve themselves”.

In his ward alone, there is a need for 2 493 toilets. The problem of poor sanitation is not unique to Skolo’s ward. This is an Eastern Cape problem where residents are still subjected to the inhumane, degrading and humiliating conditions – having to relieve themselves in bushes or in bucket toilets.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Metro has 5 000 households still using the degrading bucket toilet system.

The Daily Dispatch has reported extensively on the failed R630-million Siyenza Group tender to provide toilets in the Amathole region.

The contract was terminated because of glaring corruption and irregularities in its awarding. To this day, thousands of villagers are still without toilets. In March, we reported on the horrific death of five-year-old Lumka Kethwa, who died after she fell into a pit toilet at Luna Junior Primary School in Bizana. This is simply unacceptable. But it is symptomatic of the general failures of the government to deliver on their promises. .

South Africans were promised a better life for all – which is still far from being realised for many. Granted, a lot of strides have been made by the democratic government. Yet billions of rands which are supposed to go towards service delivery, are embezzled through corruption – the Siyenza toilet scandal being a case in point.

And it is not like there is a shortage of funds – on the contrary – there is plenty of it but it is either being wasted or not being spent.

Providing decent sanitation is about restoring people’s dignity. Skolo was right – we should not be having pit toilets in 2018. Now let him and his colleagues at BCM deliver on their electoral promises.

South Africans were promised a better life for all – which is still far from being realised