THE CITY will be acting with urgency to ensure the waste removal from ventilated improved pit (VIP) toilets located in various wards of the Municipality to ensure residents continue to have access to safe and appropriate basic water supply and sanitation.

This follows a site visit to affected communities by City Manager Sipho Nzuza accompanied by the Chairperson of the Human Settlements and Infrastructure Committee Councillor Mondli Mthembu, Head of the Water and Sanitation (EWS) Unit Ednick Msweli and other Municipal officials. The visit, on 22 June, followed complaints of full and unusable VIP toilets in the KwaMashu and Bester areas shared by wards 54 and 47.

To ensure work is urgently carried out, the City’s Executive Committee approved R29 million to be allocated towards the extension of a contract to empty 15 000 VIP toilets. This includes R6 million which will be used to increase the value of the current contract and a further R23 million which will be budgeted for in the 2018/19 financial year.

Speaking at the Executive Committee meeting on 26 June, eThekwini Mayor Zandile Gumede said: “If this issue isn’t addressed urgently, it will become a violation of the Constitutional right to basic sanitation. These flooded toilets pose a serious health threat to the community and have a destructive effect on the environment.” Nzuza agreed saying during the inspection they uncovered people living in inhumane conditions. “These toilets require immediate emptying to curb the spread of diseases and pollution to the environment.”

A report tabled at the Executive Committee meeting outlined the need for increased VIP toilet waste removal services stating that the City awarded a contract for the removal of waste from 21 000 VIP toilets for three years in the 2016/17 financial year. However, the report noted, the actual number of VIPs to be emptied is estimated to be over 48 000 and increasing based on the requests received from councillors to empty more toilets.

EWS will be embarking on a process of validating and confirming the exact number of toilets to be emptied against the number reported by councillors. The report stated that communities will be engaged and kept informed of the EWS plans to provide sanitation in their areas.

romita.hanuman@durban.gov.za