Cape Town - The City of Cape Town will no longer clean toilets in at least four informal settlements – Kanana and Barcelona in Gugulethu, and Kosovo and Block 6 in Philippi - areas where council staff have recently been attacked and intimidated.
On Wednesday, Mayor Patricia de Lille said they could not send staff into areas in which violence had been continuously threatened against them.
“It would be irresponsible to do so. As long as threats of intimidation and violence against city staff and community members are ongoing, we cannot service the toilets in these areas.”
Seven city officials were attacked with pangas and bricks and at least two council vehicles were damaged, said mayco member for utility services Ernest Sonnenberg, and more have been threatened.
But the Social Justice Coalition’s Gavin Silber said the city still had an obligation to provide these essential services: “You can’t collectively punish a community for the actions of a few.”
He said the city should rather look at providing protection for council staff going into troubled areas instead of withholding services: “This will only antagonise people further; it won’t lead to a solution.”
But Sonnenberg said: “ We cannot compromise the lives of our staff. Regrettably, until such time as we are confident our staff members are safe, we will be reluctant to let them enter violent areas. Our policing resources are already overstretched, we need community co-operation. We hope the protesters will reconsider their violent behaviour…”
When pressed to explain the city’s zero tolerance approach, De Lille said: “What can we do? City officials were stoned. They burnt out a city truck. What more can we do? I wish someone would give me advice.”
She acknowledged that “community dynamics” and “political influences” had an impact on the provision of services, and said she would not be deterred by a group of “thugs” incited by the ANC Youth League.
De Lille has been forced to abandon two public meetings – one in Philippi last week and one in Kosovo on Tuesday night – after she was prevented from speaking. In both cases it was the same group from the ANCYL, she said.
Premier Helen Zille had sewage thrown at her convoy of vehicles earlier this week, and the contents of portaloos were spilled on the steps of the provincial legislature.
These high-profile protests come after reports last month of residents in Europe (informal area) being threatened for helping officials who came to service their toilets.
The city was forced to do the cleaning because it’s service provider, Sannicare, was locked in a labour dispute with former employees. Six city officials involved in this maintenance were attacked and a council vehicle was set alight in Kanana. A city official was injured when a brick hit him on the head while he was driving through Boystown.
Speaking at a press conference about the city’s service delivery, De Lille said Cape Town provided the highest level of sanitation in the country, with 97.2 percent of all residents having access to a toilet of some kind. The number of toilets in informal settlements has more than doubled to over 35 000. Cape Town was also the only municipality to introduce janitorial services to monitor the maintenance of toilet services.
Furthermore, the bucket system has almost been eradicated, with the city servicing only about 600 known bucket toilets.
More than 13 000 portable flush toilets have been given to these households as an alternative to the 25-litre bucket toilet. These self-contained units were serviced three times a week, and provided “the same privacy, dignity and safety” as a normal flush toilet, De Lille said.
However, not all residents are keen to switch to the portable flush toilet. De Lille referred to a list of refusals that had been recorded by field workers in parts of Boystown and KTC.
In most cases, people indicated that they preferred to use the outside flush toilet, while one resident said it was “pointless going from one bucket system to another”.
De Lille said: “We cannot force people to accept our assistance. If we continue to receive resistance to our efforts in a community, the city will be obliged to move our focus to areas where the initiatives are welcomed.”
The mayor called on the Human Rights Commission to intervene and explain the benefits of the portable flush toilets, as access to a toilet was a “human rights issue”.
Meanwhile, she said she would continue to engage with communities about services in their area as part of her “know your contractor” campaign.
“I am not bothered by the ANCYL. I have not changed my itinerary and I will continue to have meetings. I will show up the ANCYL for what they are.”
The mayor will meet with residents from Kanana, Kosovo and Barcelona on Thursday night in Gugulethu.
Cape Argus