It’s a basic right to have a toilet

THE observation of World Toilet Day by the Department of Water and Sanitation throughout the month of November has shown a repudiation of a toilet as one of our elementary rights which are protected by the constitution.

The role of this important amenity has been trivialised to an extent that it occupies a position of least importance. The shock reaction on the part of the public at the mention of World Toilet Day is an indication of how inconsequential we think this facility. We have become so accustomed to its accessibility and comfort that we have begun to take it for granted.

Yet this is a facility that so many people, especially the poor, have to go without. For them accessing a toilet is as important as oxygen is for breathing. It is precisely because of the recognition of the need for this amenity that the UN designated November 19 as the day to mark the importance and the need to provide toilets to those that desperately need them.

Having access to a toilet could easily engender a sense that those who still do not enjoy this right and hence make noise about accessing it are an irritation. But the reality is that those in need of it are seriously affected by its lack and their lives are a daily struggle to keep healthy.

The UN puts the number of deaths of young children due to diarrhoea globally to a staggering 2 000 every day. This is astonishingly high given the fact that the cases of diarrhoea associated with these deaths are preventable. Effectively, this is an indictment of the manner in which we deploy our resources and arrange our priorities. Chapter Two of the Constitution of South African accords fundamental rights a place of importance, and this includes the right to access proper sanitation to which every person is entitled.

If therefore we were to follow the letter and spirit of this supreme law of our country, not providing a toilet constitutes cruelty and inhumanity. It strips people of whatever semblance of dignity that they might still have left.

The department has made significant strides towards ensuring that communities who still face the challenge of access to proper sanitation enjoy this right, albeit operating within the confines of limited resources and competing priorities. In this instance, the department has done sterling work in Gauteng and North West, managing decisively to eradicate the bucket system. The two provinces are a testimony of what government can do in turning things around to afford the people a better life. Building on this success, the department is forging ahead with realising the objective of ameliorating the plight of communities without proper toilets for them to live a dignified life.

The focal point in the coming months will be rolling out the Bucket Eradication Programme to address the legacy of bucket toilets in the Free State, Eastern Cape, North West and Northern Cape. Therefore, the observation of this year's World Toilet Day must kindle us to be the moving spirits behind the call of those who desperately need these amenities.

It falls on us to begin to advocate for and stimulate a dialogue to encourage the neglected topic of sanitation to be openly discussed in our households, our streets and our community at large.

Sithole is a Communicator at the Department of Water and Sanitation (Gauteng Region)