World Toilet Day draws attention to sanitation
November 18 marked World Toilet Day, during which attention is drawn to the plight of 2.5-bn people across the world without access to a safe, adequate, clean and private toilet.
According to the World Toilet Day campaign, a simple toilet can be a stepping stone to a healthy life, greater human dignity, freedom, equality between women, men, girls and boys, and finally, a catalyst to the development of communities and countries.
In the Census 2011 data survey, in Gauteng, approximately 1.4-m people living in shacks in informal settlements or backyards across the province do not have access to flushing toilets.
Fifty-seven per cent have to rely on non-flushing toilets of various forms. This includes 3.77 per cent who have no access to a toilet at their residence and 7.79 per cent who still use the bucket system.
In Ekurhuleni there are 23 594 households still using the bucket system.
According to the DA, World Toilet Day serves as a reminder that much more needs to be done to ensure that the people of Gauteng can develop to their full potential.
The DA calls on the MEC to prioritise adequate sanitation.
“Bucket toilets and other forms of inadequate sanitation are a serious affront to the dignity of the people of Gauteng and a slap in the face of the hard won rights and freedoms contained in the Bill of Rights,” says DA Gauteng Housing spokesperson, Janet Semple.
