Residents of Mission in Fingo Village are happy that they have finally gotten flushing toilets, but are not pleased that they have to walk across the road to get to them.
Residents of Mission in Fingo Village are happy that they have finally gotten flushing toilets, but are not pleased that they have to walk across the road to get to them.
Street committee members spoke to Grocott's Mail this week about the bizarre situation.
Nomakhaya Bill, who lives in the affected area, said the situation had arisen because the municipality planned to relocate some of the residents to an area across the road.
For this reason, many of the residents who should be benefiting from 28 flush-toilets being built in the area now find themselves with free-standing toilets built metres away from their homes.
Bill lives in the house left by her grandparents.
She says the municipality has now decided to demolish their homes and build them new houses across the road – starting with the toilets.
Adding to the residents' frustration was the fact that the buckets they are still forced to use had not been collected for extended periods and they feared for their families' health.
Street committee chairperson Nombali Ogqoyi told Grocott's Mail that her child was recently admitted to hospital with diarrhoea.
"I think it might have something to do with this, because this is unhealthy," she said.
Ogqoyi said the family had endured a full toilet bucket for about two weeks, adding that attempts to get help from the municipality had not been successful.
"Last Tuesday night the bucket collectors came to collect – but what I noticed on Wednesday morning was that my bucket had not been collected."
"I went to report it on Thursday [but]nothing happened and then I went again on Friday," she said.
Ogqoyi says the woman who helped her at the municipality called to report the problem to the relevant people in front of her – but this week the bucket remained unemptied.
She says she had lost faith in Makana Municipality and the ANC.
"I have lost faith in Makana management and the ruling party as a whole," Ogqoyi said.
"When it was still apartheid ruling the buckets were collected twice a week, and if they weren't coming they gave you a spare bucket," Ogqoyi said.
Bill is frustrated because while the municipality focuses on future plans, they're stuck in an unbearable situation.
"What are we going to do when the toilets are handed over? How are we going to go to the toilet at night?" Bill asked.
Residents can't use the new toilets until the municipality officially hands them over, according to Ogqoyi.
She says some of these toilets remain unfinished and some have been vandalised, but the municipality has indicated they will hand them over soon.
Several attempts to get comment from municipal spokesman Mncedisi Boma were unsuccessful at the time of going to press.
