Small things like going to the toilet can have a life changing effect on the lives of residents of Eluxolweni near Joza.
Small things like going to the toilet can have a life changing effect on the lives of residents of Eluxolweni near Joza.
The residents of Eluxolweni, a small community located just a few meters from Jacob Zuma drive, are forced to go to the nearby veld to relieve themselves because their flushing toilets don't work and the mobile toilets they were given are not regularly serviced.
This week Grocott’s Mail visited the area after members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) who were conducting door-to-door visits in the area contacted the newspaper to ask that the situation the families were living under be exposed for all to see.
The houses,which were built in 2009, remain unconnected to water or sewerage systems.
Almost seven years after their houses were built residents of the area still rely on a communal tap to get water and when that tap runs dry they have to walk a few kilometres to nearby areas to get drinking water.
After years of being without proper toilets the residents say they were given mobile toilets by the municipality in 2014.
The residents were happy to use the mobile toilets in the beginning but after a while the municipality allegedly kept failing to service the toilets for months at a time.
The residents are still without title deeds as well.
Speaking to Grocott’s Mail about the problems she faces, Florence Plaatjies, 52, said their biggest problem is that the mobile toilets are full and they are never emptied.
“We go to the veld to use the toilet and it is dangerous to go to that area, especially at night,” she said.
Plaatjies said just over a year ago she narrowly avoided being raped while relieving herself in the nearby veld at night. "I was chased by a group of boys, but fortunately a man came to my rescue as I called out to him.
I wasn't sure what they were going to do to me at the time, because they said I must not put my clothes back on after I had finished relieving myself, but I got up and ran away," she said.
Plaatjies said they have to go to the veld because the toilets are full and the municipality doesn't clean them.
"We do have toilets inside the house but they are not in working condition because the pipes are not connected and therefore when we use them they leak and we don't have water, we only have one (communal) tap and if there's no water in the tap we have to go to far away areas like Sofisa to get water," she said.
Another resident, Daniswa Ngqiyaza said her problem is that her house is leaking and is not even plastered, despite the fact that there was a project to repair and plaster homes in the area.
Ngqiyaza also complained about the mobile toilets. "It has been three months now since the municipal truck came to clean the toilets. Now we have resorted to going to the bushes to relive ourselves."
Ngqiyaza said not every house has its own mobile toilet, which means they have to share toilets with neighbours. "When we asked from the person who was giving out the mobile toilets to house owners, he said a person who wants a toilet should go to Makana Municipality."
She said the houses don't even have proper foundations and as a result when it rains the water comes into the house easily.
Nowakhe Saki, who has been staying in Eluxolweni since 2009 said even the toilet bowls that were installed in their inside toilets were in poor condition.
"Even in my house they came with a broken toilet bowl and I asked them not to install it because it was broken when it arrived and it is still sitting there even now," she said. Saki said the plastering project which was meant to fix some of the defects only reached a few houses but did not arrive at her house.
Attempts to get answers from Makana Municipality regarding the problems faced by the residents of Eluxolweni were unsuccessful at the time of going to press. Municipal spokesperson Yoliswa Ramokolo had referred emailed questions to the provincial Human Settlements Department saying it was their project, but departmental spokesperson Lwandile Sicwetsha disputed this saying that these were all functions of the municipality and not the department.
anele@grocotts.co.za
