Nico de Jager, Johannesburg mayoral committee member (MMC) for environment and infrastructure services, probably bit off more than he could chew when he told eNCA’s Nkepile Mabuse that residents of informal settlements should clean their own public toilets.
“I hear what you say, but at the same time, is it not the responsibility of those people using the toilets to clean them?” he asked.
This comment sent Mabuse up the wall, and she shot back: “Oh, is it? Do you clean your own toilet here in this government building?” she asked, pointing towards the other side of De Jager’s spacious office.
“No, I don’t,” De Jager admitted.
Mabuse wanted to know why he then expected people from Zanempilo and Kliptown to clean those toilets. “Public toilets!” she reiterated.
“If a toilet is in your house, don’t you clean it? In your house?” De Jager retorted.
Mabuse then reminded him: “Those are public toilets, they are not in their houses. That is why I ask, have you been to those areas?” with De Jager arguing he had been to those areas (townships deprived of service delivery).
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