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[File photo] Bucket toilets seen lined up in an informal settlement
The use of buckets toilets has increased by over 50 percent in the Northern Cape.
According to the 2022/2023 census, the province has the highest proportion of households still using bucket toilets followed by North West.
The province recorded 52,5 percent increase of the use of bucket toilets.
In December 2023, Premier Zamani Saul announced a R120 million toilet project for Campbell.
There were cheers and jubilation, when Campbell residents were promised that their bucket toilets will soon be a thing of the past.
It has been 15 months since this announcement was made but the project has stalled. The project to install 540 flushing toilets for the residents has been hit by delays.
Only 140 structures were constructed but are not completed.
65-year-old Lizzie Younger, who has been using the bucket system for over 20 years, says it is humiliating.
“It is really not nice to use these toilets. Sometimes when you sit, you get burned. But we don’t have no choice but to use these toilets, what can we do?”
Some residents say the current toilets do not only pose a health risk but have stripped them off their dignity.
“Women get infections. I was personally called by the clinic to do a test because my wife had an infection but it wasn’t me, it was the toilet. It is a problem that is escalating every day.”
“We are not happy. It is not healthy and we have small children. It is not safe. They empty these bucket twice a week but sometimes they don’t because a tractor is working somewhere else.”
The Department of Water and Sanitation says a project aimed at eradicating bucket system in Campbell in Northern Cape has not been abandoned. Despite very little happening, the department says it’s still committed to completing the project that will happen in three phases.
Spokesperson for the department Wisane Mavasa says, “The project is divided in three sub projects and has a combined cost of R102 million from the Department of Water and Sanitation’s water service infrastructure grant, as well as well as the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and municipal infrastructure grant.”
The department says the internal water and sewer network will be implemented in the next three years.
Cold comfort for residents who say they have run out of patience.
