In true Madiba spirit, one of the country’s top toilet hygiene product brands, Harpic, has handed over five restored community toilets in Klipfontein to keep South African women safer.
The campaign continues to breathe the spirit of Nelson Mandela this July, a month known across the globe as Nelson Mandela Month, a time when people and organisations around the world honour the legacy of the late former president of South Africa by doing small acts of kindness for those who are less fortunate, vulnerable and marginalised in our society.
This gives citizens and brands the opportunity to heed the call to action, to recognise their individual power to change the world around them for the better.
The Harpic Hygiene For Her public toilets restoration campaign, aimed at raising awareness of the injustices faced by women, and how unsafe public toilets negatively affect their lives, has been a monumental success for under-privileged communities without clean and safe ablution facilities.
Launched in May in partnership with the City of Johannesburg and local NGO Arise Community Development, the campaign was successfully concluded last week with the handing over of the five restored community toilets in the small town of Klipfontein, outside Tembisa.
“We are proud to have been part of this life-changing initiative whose aim was to emphasise the importance of ensuring that all South African women live a life of dignity, equality, and freedom. We have officially concluded the initial phase of the project with the handover of five restored community toilets in Klipfontein, which is our way to ensure that adequate sanitation and basic hygiene is available to all,” said Harpic spokesperson Masibonge Mkhize.
She added: “As you know, women in South Africa dread using public toilets.
“This truth applies across the entire socio-economic spectrum of women. However, the circumstances of those in lower income communities such as Klipfontein are even more severe. Public and shared toilets in these communities can be unhygienic, unsafe and are typically not suited to women’s needs, which is where the Hygiene For Her campaign comes in.
“Our aim is to ensure that toilet facilities are purpose-built for women, well-lit, secure, and safe, private, provide access to soap and water, include hooks, and are easily accessible.”
Mkhize also said they will also provide cleaning products to keep these toilet facilities hygienic.