The Cape Town City Council contravened the Water Services Act when it installed unenclosed toilets for 1 316 families in Makhaza in Khayelitsha, its own forensic investigation it tried to keep secret has found.
And the council did not take minutes at meetings where it alleged the community had agreed to enclose the toilets itself.
Despite being poverty stricken, most of the families were able to enclose their own toilets. But for 53 it was months of suffering the indignity of relieving themselves in full view of the public, leading to furious protests.
City manager Achmat Ebrahim ordered the probe in March after allegations that the decision to erect open toilets was unlawful.
The Social Justice Coalition (an organisation campaigning for accountable governance) and the ANC Youth League among other had repeatedly demanded the probe’s findings be made public.
This council said it had not planned to release the results, ostensibly because the open toilet fiasco was a matter before the Western Cape High Court, but has now done so following legal advice. It was the SJC, in its attempt to get the report, that lodged a Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) application when acting city manager Mike Richardson turned them down earlier this month.
Part of the investigation’s brief was to determine the legal requirements regarding provision of minimum basic sanitation, and to establish whether the council had complied.
“We established that (the Act), stipulates the following regarding the minimum standard for basic sanitation – ‘a toilet which is safe, reliable, environmentally sound, easy to keep clean, provides privacy and protection against the weather, well ventilated, keeps smells to a minimum and prevents the entry and exit of flies and other disease-carrying pests’.
“We established that the provisions of the Water Services Act were not complied with, in that the construction of 1 316 toilets were not enclosed as prescribed,” the findings read.
It explained that individual toilets exceeded the national norm of one toilet per five families and how the provision of 1 316 individual toilets originated from a 2007 community meeting held on an open field in Makhaza.
The findings stated how some residents failed to enclose their toilets, and how the community twice destroyed enclosures the council erected.
Recommendations from the investigation included that Ebrahim and the council housing director note the findings, that such projects should comply with legislation and proper records to be kept of all future agreements with the community.
On Wednesday the SJC said the findings were an indictment of the city’s failure to obey the act.
It questioned the validity of the November 2007 meeting and whether community members were present or represented.
“Shockingly, the investigation reveals there are no minutes from this meeting, which results in there being no formal record of the discussion, attendees, or outcomes. This is particularly disturbing given the gravity of the resolution - to build 1 316 individual toilets, the enclosures of which community members would have to provide.
“The minimum standards of basic sanitation is that a toilet be enclosed. The investigation found the ‘provisions of the regulations to the Act were not complied with’. The city must take ultimate responsibility for this,” a SJC statement read.
SJC coordinator, Gavin Silber said his organisation would study the findings and consult its lawyers before it decided on legal action against the council.
“For us it is not only about Makhaza. It is about the provision of decent sanitation more broadly,” he said.
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