Residents of Matlwang Village are concerned about their health due to the state of their pit toilets.
One resident said the toilets have been there since 2005 but have never functioned properly. They often get blocked and overflow.
“Even though we have toilets, we have to use the bushes or ask our neighbours if we could use theirs whenever they are blocked,” she said.
Municipal officials have come to evaluate the situation and have sometimes even used chemicals to rectify the situation. Sooner or later, however, the residents have, once again, found themselves back to where they started.
“Every time they come, they promise to build new toilets and even take pictures, yet we see nothing happening,” she said.
The residents have even had to make do with the unhygienic conditions during the Covid-19 lockdown.
“It is just by grace that we haven’t been sick since the lockdown,” she said. “We have had to ensure that the children, especially, stayed far from the toilets unless necessary because they overflowed extensively during the lockdown.”
The toilets are such an issue that one resident decided to take matters into her own hands and build herself a functional one.
“We might as well build our own toilets like my neighbour did,” the resident added. “We have complained so much and to so many people at the municipality that we don’t know where to turn any- more,” she said, discouraged.
The Herald asked the municipality for comment, but none was forthcoming by the time of publication.
