Social Justice Coalition - Khayelitscha

Cape Times articles investigate life in RR section

tomdavidadams — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:20:38 +0000

Raw sewage swamps a street in RR section, where sanitation facilities are often dysfunctional or simply non-existent1) DEATHLY EFFECTS OF NO TOILETS

She plunges her hands in and out of the drum and in one smooth movement removes a dripping item of clothing, wrings the water out and gives it a shake before gingerly making her way across her tiny yard where she stretches skyward to peg it to the washing line.

She repeats this a number of times, every time stepping on strategically placed rocks and a makeshift wooden bridge to reach the washing line. She stands on her tippy toes her fulsome frame in a brown shwe-shwe skirt and orange polo neck. Amid the fluttering, colourful washing drying in the south-easter, she cuts an attractive picture against the stark black and white of her shack and Table Mountain in the background.

However, the picture is far from pretty. Nozakhe Thethafuthi has good reason for not walking along the path to the washing line – her shack and yard is regularly flooded with raw sewage from a nearby pipe which blocks and then floods its contents into her surroundings.

Thethafuthi claims that sewerage first started flowing out from two manholes around her home in the winter of 2006. She has been forced to build a moat around her house in an attempt to relay the sewage to the swamp behind her shack. The effluent in the swamp is channeled to the ocean.

The Most Reverend Dr Archbishop Thabo Makgoba Calls For Constructive Negotiation in Makhaza

tomdavidadams — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 09:51:56 +0000

The Most Reverend Dr Archbishop Thabo Makgoba speaks to residents of MakhazaOn Tuesday 8 June the SJC met with The Most Reverend Dr Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, regarding our mutual concern for the spiralling situation in Makhaza. Below is the letter submitted from his office on Tuesday to the Mayor of Cape Town, Premier of the Western Cape, and representatives of National Government.

In this letter the Archbishop calls for:

1. The Mayor to commit to adhering to the recommendations made by the Human Rights Commission;
2. The Mayor to acknowledge that there were serious flaws in the Makhaza arrangement;
3. That all relevant parties sit down to discuss how best to implement the HRC recommendations;
4. That a community meeting be held, which the Archbishop would be willing to chair.

The SJC welcomes the Archbishop’s call to put the needs of the community first, and the need to resolve the current impasse speedily. We feel that he is a respected and non-biased community leader, and as such is best placed to serve as a mediator. We urge the Mayor and the Premier to accept the Archbishop's proposal.

__________________________________________________________________________

TCM/sm
June 8, 2010
Attention: Mr. Dan Plato
Mayor, City of Cape Town
Attention: Ms. Helen Zille
Premier, Western Cape
Attention: Mr. Sicelo Shiceka
Minister, National Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
Attention: Ms. Buyelwa Sonjica

Makhaza Toilets: Review & The Way Forward

Louis Fourie — Thu, 27 May 2010 11:19:33 +0000

This article appeared in The Cape Times on 27 May 2010.

There was widespread controversy earlier this year when it emerged that 50 households in the low-income settlement of Makhaza (Khayelitsha) had been provided with unenclosed toilets, leaving residents deprived of their rights to health, safety and dignity. The City of Cape Town, governed by the DA, claimed an agreement had been reached with the community. It entailed the commitment to build an external toilet for each home, as opposed to one for every five homes, provided each household built their own enclosures (walls and roofs). However, many were not aware of this arrangement and, in some cases, were unable to afford the material with which to do so, forcing them to use uncovered toilets in full view of the passing public.

The source of the widespread media attention was an ANCYL complaint to the Human Rights Commission and public outrage, which culminated in an apology from DA leader Helen Zille on Human Rights Day.

SJC Member Stabbed & Robbed In Effort To Relieve Himself

Louis Fourie — Thu, 06 May 2010 12:53:44 +0000

Makhosandile Qezo: Makhosandile two days after the attack

An SJC member and Khayelitsha resident was stabbed in the face on Saturday whilst trying to relieve himself in a clearing alongside the N2 highway.

Makhosandile “Scarre” Qezo, who lives in RR section - an informal settlement in Khayelitsha in which there are approximately 3000 households and only 240 toilets - had walked across Lansdowne Road and was relieving himself behind a bush in the clearing alongside the N2 when two men attacked him.

“One of the men screamed ‘Where’s the phone?!’ and swore at me”, he said. Before he could “pull up his trousers or respond” the man stabbed him in the face. “After he stabbed me, I tried to grab him but grabbed the knife and cut my hand. He then threw sand in my face so I couldn’t see him.”

Witnesses of the assault, which occurred just after 7am, attempted to come to Makhosandile’s aid. As they approached his attacker fled, taking his cell phone with him.

This harrowing ordeal was endured all because Makhosandile needed to use the toilet – the most fundamental of human needs and rights – but had no toilet to go to. “There are no toilets nearby”, he said, “except those that are locked”. Flush toilets in RR section (as in many other informal settlements) are self-allocated by the community to a number of households, who restrict access to their toilet through the use of a padlock. This often results in arbitrary, uncoordinated, and unfair distribution resulting in some toilets being reserved for a small number of households whilst others are shared amongst scores of households.

SJC Hosts Safety & Sanitation Community Meeting For Residents of Khayelitsha’s Informal Settlements

Louis Fourie — Wed, 05 May 2010 21:40:36 +0000

SJC Co-Chairperson Angy Peter responds to questions from the audience

On 19 April 2010 the Social Justice Coalition held a mass-meeting in the OR Tambo Hall in Khayelitsha, to discuss sanitation and safety in informal settlements – issues identified by the surrounding communities as principle areas of concern. Approximately 500 residents were in attendance.

SJC Secretary Axolile Notywala opened the meeting by introducing the SJC’s campaign for Clean & Safe Toilets in Cape Town’s informal settlements. A speech by SJC Educator Akhona Siximba explaining how this focus tied into the SJC’s core mission of “Safety and Security for all” was followed by Co-Chairperson Angy Peter’s summary of the interconnected issue of sanitation and safety in informal settlements.

With approximately 47, 650 households having no access to a toilet (figure taken from The Water Dialogues: Cape Town Case Study, 2009) in Cape Town’s informal settlements, many people are forced to relieve themselves in bushes or use public toilets far away from populated and relatively safe areas. Angy indicated that this has led to a wide range of safety threats including where people have been hit by cars while crossing the road, attacked, raped and even murdered on their way to relieve themselves.

City Official Joins SJC For Inspection of RR Section

Louis Fourie — Tue, 04 May 2010 10:00:00 +0000

SJC members inspect RR Section for Health & Safety threats, seen here with a local Enviromental Health Office (EHO) Official

On 8 April 2010 SJC members accompanied Laurence Grootboom - Functional Operations Manager for the City’s Water and Sanitation Department - on a visit to an area of RR section long afflicted by an overflowing sewerage line. This followed numerous efforts by the SJC over the preceding six weeks to have the problem rectified, and a meeting a week earlier with the Mayor of Cape Town and other City officials in which it was raised.

The manhole has been leaking raw sewage around – and at times directly through – local resident Noaskile Thethayuthi’s home for well over a year. Her three infant children are ill with diahorrea on a weekly basis on the account of having to live and play amongst raw sewerage. The flow of sewerage is also directed over a standpipe which hundreds use daily for water, and over the doorsteps of many of Noaskile’s neighbours.

There are at present 240 toilets used by 3000 households in RR Section. National norms and standards dictate that there should be 5 households per toilet, but the ratio in RR section is over 12 households to one toilet. Moreover, many of these toilets are unusable as a result of irregular (often non-existent) maintenance on the part of the city.

Makhaza toilets

Louis Fourie — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:19:47 +0000

CAPE TOWN, 26 January 2010 – Today the SJC visited Makhaza Section in Khayelitsha to investigate claims that toilets had been built towards the end of last year without walls or roofs. The City government claim that this was done with the understanding that community members would build a suitable enclosure at a later date. All the residents we spoke to were not aware of this arrangement.

For months community members have been forced to either walk long distances to enclosed containerised toilets, or use these which provide no shelter or dignity. Both scenarios pose significant threats to residents' safety and security. One elderly woman we spoke to (pictured) had recently been stabbed walking to a far away containerised toilet.

Click here to view photos taken on today’s site visit.

First Grootboom Lecture

Louis Fourie — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:06:06 +0000