Residents in Khayelitsha barricade homes against overflowing toilets
City says it has tried unsuccessfully for a week to clear the blockage
Wearing black ankle boots, shorts and a T-shirt, Zandisile Phatho sweated as he went back and forth carrying a bucket trying to scoop out the smelly toilet water that entered his shack in RR Section in Khayelitsha.
The stinking, green communal toilets in the informal settlement have flooded homes nearby as a result of constant blockages. It is so bad, that Phatho has moved in with his girlfriend to get away. Other residents have built up ridges of sand to keep the sewage at bay.
Residents say they reported the problem to the City of Cape Town last week.
The mayoral committee member for utility services, Ernest Sonnenberg, says the City is aware of the problem. He said blocked sewerage pipes were the cause.
“The City has been working on clearing the blockage for approximately one week now, with no success,” he said.
On Tuesday, GroundUp visited the informal settlement and saw ten communal toilets that had been installed in 2013. Only one was unlocked and it was overflowing. At the back of the toilets, dirty water pooled around the toilets and flowed into people’s shacks.
RR Section resident and toilet cleaner Andile Radebe said he reported the matter to his supervisor on Monday.
“Look at the mess these toilets are causing right now, and look at these kids playing here … The reason these toilets are like this is because of the amount of people that use them on a daily basis … The last time we counted, there were 360 toilets here in RR but there are even more people.”
“Another reason is that residents are not educated enough on how to take care of these toilets; you find them dumping dirt or food in the drains connected to the toilets, which ends up blocking the system,” he said.
Community activist Raymond Xazana said, “It crushed my heart when I was driving around here and saw a child playing in that water, which is why I am taking it upon myself to highlight this issue. This is not healthy. For these few days I have been here, the situation has not changed. How do people cook and eat with this bad smell?”
Xazana also reached out on Facebook, asking for assistance and posting photographs of the toilets on Monday. He received responses from two different people from the City who wanted more information so they could dispatch a team to the informal settlement.
On Wednesday morning, the toilet situation was still the same.
“Residents are still using these toilets even though they are in this state because they have no alternative,” said Xazana.
Sonnenberg said: “The City has been in communication with residents of RR Section and has appealed to them to bear with us as we cannot address the issues with the toilets until the blockage is cleared.
“The cause of the blockage is the presence of rags, general litter, and other potential blockages in the system. This happens when residents discard these inappropriate items down the toilet, or down open manholes.”
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