“I will be writing to the self-styled interim mayor to request an urgent audit of the number of bucket toilets still in use in the metro,” he said.
Bhanga was joined by DA spokesperson for infrastructure and engineering in the metro Masixole Zinto and PE Northern Areas constituency chair Rano Kayser in conducting an oversight inspection at northern areas informal settlement Vastrap, where he said they found 1,050 bucket toilets still in use.
“The ANC-led coalition of corruption government has stated that it still needs to eradicate 6,000 bucket toilets in the metro but finding over 1,000 buckets in one community places the provided statistics in serious doubt.
“The Covid-19 pandemic is sweeping through the country and proper sanitation is of the utmost importance in fighting the virus. Bucket toilets pose an extreme health hazard to our people and cannot be ignored during the global coronavirus crisis,” Bhanga said.
He said for the 2020/2021 financial year, the budget provided R373m for sanitation, which he said was a far cry from the R620m and R733m provided during the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 financial years when the metro was governed by the DA-led coalition.
DA wants metro to dip into Covid-19 funds to get rid of bucket toilets
Image: SUPPLIED
The DA in Nelson Mandela Bay wants part of the Covid-19 relief funds to be redirected towards bucket toilet eradication.
DA provincial leader and caucus leader in the metro Nqaba Bhanga said the ANC-led coalition had failed in ridding the city of bucket toilets.
Bhanga said he would write to Bay acting mayor Thsonono Buyeye asking that the municipality use some of the R150m equitable share grant expected from National Treasury, which formed part of the government’s Covid-19 relief funding, to go towards getting rid of bucket toilets.
“I will be writing to the self-styled interim mayor to request an urgent audit of the number of bucket toilets still in use in the metro,” he said.
Bhanga was joined by DA spokesperson for infrastructure and engineering in the metro Masixole Zinto and PE Northern Areas constituency chair Rano Kayser in conducting an oversight inspection at northern areas informal settlement Vastrap, where he said they found 1,050 bucket toilets still in use.
“The ANC-led coalition of corruption government has stated that it still needs to eradicate 6,000 bucket toilets in the metro but finding over 1,000 buckets in one community places the provided statistics in serious doubt.
“The Covid-19 pandemic is sweeping through the country and proper sanitation is of the utmost importance in fighting the virus. Bucket toilets pose an extreme health hazard to our people and cannot be ignored during the global coronavirus crisis,” Bhanga said.
He said for the 2020/2021 financial year, the budget provided R373m for sanitation, which he said was a far cry from the R620m and R733m provided during the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 financial years when the metro was governed by the DA-led coalition.
“Only R5m has been budgeted to address bucket toilets in the 2020/2021 financial year, in spite of the fact that the city needs R76m to eradicate this scourge,” Bhanga said.
Infrastructure and engineering political head Andile Lungisa said the city had a 5,000 bucket toilet backlog and money had been budgeted for the programme.
“Water and sanitation minister Lindiwe Sisulu announced a bucket eradication programme headed by the HDA [Housing Development Agency]. The city forms part of the programme.
“There’s a constraint in the country’s budget announced by finance minister Tito Mboweni. If this is the case, how does the DA think the municipality will escape from this reality?
“Our main priority is bucket eradication in the first three months of this new financial year,” Lungisa said.
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