One loo for over 100
GAMBLE: A WOMAN OFFERS USE OF HER TOILET AT GREAT HEALTH RISK
More than 150 residents of the AT informal settlement in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, are using Nolusindiso Xaka’s toilet next to her house.
“They have nowhere to go,” said Xaka. “Sometimes they queue as early as 5am.
“I have the responsibility to make sure the toilet is clean but since ther coronavirus I am afraid [because] I do not have sanitisers. I usually give them water mixed with vinegar to wash their hands.
“I wish the City [of Cape Town] would build toilets for them because I cannot keep on providing such a service to a big number of residents,” she said.
Resident Namhla Mathandabuzo said they can’t stay at home as per the lockdown regulations because they don’t have toilets.
Another resident, Mzukisi Nqetho, said: “We are forced to come and meet here in numbers. Everyone comes here – kids, men and women. The city needs to build us toilets before we get sick.”
Asanda Mniki said: “Even if they give us Mshengu toilets we will gladly accept it, because I feel for Xaka. If it was someone else, they would never accept what we are doing.”
AT informal settlement has existed since about 1993, according to residents.
Ward Councillor Ntomboxolo Kopman said the community had refused to move their shacks to make space for toilets, and the city’s MMC for water and waste, Xanthea Limberg, said residents had refused portable toilets.
She said Kopman will follow up with residents to see if they would reconsider accepting chemical toilets. Republished from Groundup. org.za
I wish the city would build toilets for the residents