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As you enter the Sheleni Flats in Kwazakhele, a pungent smell of rot and burnt tyres hits you in the chest.
The flats that now house 12 families have never had toilets, forcing residents to defecate in buckets and use a nearby stormwater drain to discard the waste, much to the irritation of residents living near Meke Street.
Last week The Herald reported it could take the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality at least a year to completely eradicate more than 6,000 bucket toilets.
The bucket toilets at Sheleni Flats are not included in this figure.
It’s been a full year since the municipality promised residents here that the problem would be dealt with urgently.
A year ago, The Herald had visited the flats when a feud between residents of the flats and nearby shacks turned ugly.
They had fought over where the waste should be discarded.
At the time, 30 families were living on the property without toilets or running water.
In a visit to the area this week, a resident said they were still battling the same problem.
“As you can see we still do not have a toilet.
“Look outside the doors of all these flats there are buckets that we use to relieve ourselves,” a resident who did not want to be named said.
“We used to throw our buckets in the stormwater drain just outside here [the yard], but then the drain would fill up and get blocked.
“When it rained, the drain would overflow and there would be faeces everywhere.
“We now throw our buckets at different corners of this yard.
“When the stench becomes too strong we burn tyres to mask it,” she said.
The resident lives with three other people in a onebedroomed flat.
She said the only development she had seen was the installation of a tap nearby and relocation of other residents to Motherwell NU30 in July.
“All we have got since when I saw you [in October 2018] was a tap that has been placed outside the yard of our flats.
“Cars have set up car washes near the tap and we cannot police who uses it.
“All we would like for the municipality is to prioritise our needs, to give us a toilet, electricity and water so that where we live can be dignified.”
Nancy Gcweka, 36, who has been living at the flats for 15 years, said she was grateful for the positive step of relocating families, but this action had invited criminals.
“The empty flats are now a place for schoolchildren and criminals to come and smoke drugs,” she said.
“I hope the municipality gives us a decent place to relieve ourselves properly. Our living conditions would improve drastically and people would not see this yard as a rubbish dump,” she said.
Municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said the human settlements department had designed a layout plan to formalise the Sheleni Flats.
“The plans are awaiting the approval of the MPT [municipal planning tribunal] and the project approval by council.
“This has been done in consultation with the ward councillor,” he said.