Quinton Mtyala
EIGHTEEN months after Makhaza’s open toilets caused a political storm for the DA, the City of Cape Town has started enclosing all 1 316 units, now that residents have approved a prototype.
Two weeks ago, mayor Patricia de Lille ordered council workers to enclose the toilets after a protracted legal fight, indicating the city would not appeal a Western Cape High Court decision which ruled against it in the case. On Monday, contractors started putting up the first toilets, made of prefabricated concrete panels, and assembled them on site.
Residents of Makhaza, in Khayelitsha, who inspected the first unit on Monday, were satisfied and gave the go-ahead for all the unenclosed toilets to be covered, a job expected to be completed within weeks.
De Lille welcomed the community’s acceptance: “This is a positive step forward in our efforts to close the chapter of the Makhaza toilets with dignity and in a lawful manner.
“I hope that this will also go a long way to repair the relationship between the city and the people of Makhaza.”
Thobekani Qwabe, a resident of the area, said he was happy with the new structures as he surveyed workers building the new enclosures. “I can see they’re smart, neat, I’m happy with them,” he said.
But after all the protests and the court cases, Qwabe said trouble could have been avoided if the council had agreed to the demands of the residents. “They should have done this a long time ago. We fought for the dignity of the residents when we protested in the streets,” he said.
Last year, former mayor and current premier Helen Zille defended the city’s failure to enclose the toilets, saying residents had agreed that they would do it themselves. But 51 families could not afford the building materials for enclosures.
Local ward councillor Mpucuko Nguzo (ANC) was also on site. “Fifty toilets are being replaced today, and then later they will replace the corrugated iron structures,” Nguzo said yesterday.
The ANC’s councillors were “shocked” when De Lille indicated the city would not appeal Judge Nathan Erasmus’s ruling, which ordered the toilets be enclosed.
Nolwando Mde, who was one of several residents whose names appeared as plaintiffs in the case against the city, said: “I’m very happy. These were the toilets that we initially wanted.”
Like Qwabe, Mde said she used the toilets of her neighbours, which were enclosed.
Work on enclosing the toilets will start in Makhaza and will move on to Town Two and the SST informal settlement.