Residents of the Kampies informal settlement in Philippi say it's “back to reality of no services” for them, one day after casting their votes in the hopes of bringing about change.
Rodney Khan, a resident and secretary of the Philippi Horticulture Area (PHA) social-economic development forum says they have been begging the City of Cape Town for the past three years to assist them with proper toilets. In addition, they’ve had no water for the past three days.
He says the City has failed to do maintenance on the toilets ever since they were installed.
“This has now been for the past three years where we have questioned them to fix the toilets.
“We have spoken to the ward councillor but all they say is it will be brought to the attention of the officials,” he says.
He says there are only 27 toilets for about 2000 residents and 20 of these don't have doors.
Most of the toilets are located near Olieboom Street and can be seen from the road.
Khan says they cannot flush, and likened it to the apartheid bucket system.
“This is not safe for the children because when they clean it, all the poo and stuff lies there. How can I sit in a toilet that has no door?”
He says people are using emmers to discard their waste.
“How can it be the best-run City if people from informal settlements are still in the same position years later?”
Mayco member for Water and Sanitation, Zahid Badroodien confirms the City is aware of the residents’ requests.
But he says the City is unable to install flushing toilets because the settlement is on privately-owned land, while there isn’t a suitable reticulation system in the area for loos to be connected to either.
“Both container and chemical toilets have been installed in the area. They are serviced four times a week, with an active janitorial services working five days a week,” Badroodien says.
“The most recent service of the area’s container toilets took place on Saturday, 25 May 2024.”
Khan confirms the loos were cleaned on 25 May.
Badroodien says 40 additional container toilets have been installed in the area.
“The toilets are situated behind or on the outskirts of the informal settlement, so they have been subject to constant vandalism and dumping.
“The advice given was that the toilets be relocated, however, the Water and Sanitation teams have been unable to identify sufficient space for the relocation to take place,” Badroodien says.
He says they were not aware of the water situation until the Daily Voice brought it to their attention and will be sending out a team to investigate as soon as possible.