Only two toilets for 2 000 residents to use
ONLY two toilets serve thousands of squatters in North West.
This is the sad reality people at Kosmos informal settlement near Hartbeespoort are faced with.
The government has provided other toilets but the nearly 2 000 residents are forced to share only two toilets because a man who calls himself a community leader has locked the other toilets.
When Sowetan arrived, the two toilets supplied and serviced by the Madibeng municipality were filthy, with residents claiming that they had not yet been emptied.
Portia Lebogo, who has been living in the area since 1993, said the state of the toilets posed a serious health risk.
“As you can see, these toilets are very dirty because they have not been emptied yet. The municipality does empty them, but they do not put air fresheners in and we are left with this unbearable smell,” Lebogo said.
She said that two toilets were not enough for the whole neighbourhood and that “a man called Koos Motlhabane has decided to lock the other toilets and keeps the keys to himself ”. There are five locked toilets. Motlhabane admitted that he locked the toilets, saying he did it for health reasons.
“Have you seen those other toilets that they are using? My prob- lem is that these people leave toilets in a bad state, forgetting that the rest of us also need to use them.
“I will continue locking them until they learn to keep them clean.
“It ’ s not like I refuse them use of the toilets. If they ask to use the toilets, I open for them. But after that, I lock and keep the keys,” Motlhabane said.
Tumelo Tshabalala of the Madibeng local municipality said they were not aware of anybody being given authority to lock the toilets.
“We will investigate this matter with a view to correct this situation, ” he said. – tan.co.za