WATCH | 'Four houses with one toilet' - Emfuleni informal settlement faces sanitation crisis
This ongoing sanitation crisis began when the Gauteng government cut funding for the toilet maintenance program earlier this year.
Some informal settlements in Emfuleni Local Municipality are reeling from the collapse of service delivery, as they mark four months without their portable toilets being cleaned. Picture: Simphiwe Nkosi/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - Some informal settlements in Emfuleni Local Municipality are reeling from the collapse of service delivery, as they mark four months without their portable toilets being cleaned.
This ongoing sanitation crisis began when the Gauteng government cut funding for the toilet maintenance programme earlier this year.
The Emfuleni Local Municipality has refused to take over the responsibility, saying it lacks the funds to continue the service.
The Ramaphosa informal settlement is one of many that are now forced to use unhygienic toilets.
As Eyewitness News enters the Ramaphosa informal settlement, we are not only welcomed by friendly residents but also by the unpleasant, pungent smell of filthy mobile toilets.
Some of the units are overflowing with waste that has not been removed since Valentine's Day, while most have become infested with maggots.
Thirty-five-year-old Frieda Veeris says she’s decided to use the bucket system to relieve herself, despite having a portable toilet in her yard.
“I don’t even want to go in. What happens if a worm finds its way into my private part? I use a bucket now. There’s no other way,” said the mother of two girls.
INFECTIONS, UNBEARABLE STENCH AND MAGGOTS IN TOILET BOWELS
Veeris and her two daughters have contracted infections because they were forced to use filthy mobile toilets in their community.
In email correspondence seen by Eyewitness News, the Gauteng government has instructed the Emfuleni Local municipality to take over the sanitation programme.
But municipal manager April Ntuli responded that Emfuleni doesn’t have the money to maintain and clean the portable toilets.
Veeris invited Eyewitness News into her home, where the unbearable stench from a filthy toilet was impossible to ignore.
What was once a source of relief, a green and blue portable toilet provided by the government, has now turned into a nightmare for her family.
She opens the toilet lid and shows Eyewitness News maggots crawling inside the bowl.
Veeris says the unsanitary state of the toilet is to blame for her current health issues.
“I’m raising two girls and one boy. The girls have contracted infections. The more you pee, the more you itch, and it’s a 10 and 11-year-old girl. They are small children.”
The Emfuleni Local Municipality is aware of the situation but says it needs more time to find a solution.