Broken communal toilets in East London’s Fynbos have become a nightmare for residents.
When the Daily Dispatch visited the area on Friday people were seen defecating in the open. Human faeces were everywhere and so was an overwhelming odour.
Nicky Zihlangu, who has been employed to clean the toilets for 14 years, described her job as horrible.
“We can’t breathe in this polluted area. The toilets are overflowing and the pipes are damaged or blocked. Everything is just in a mess.”
She also blamed the residents. “We clean the toilets and after that people come and throw their leftover food and nappies here, then they get blocked which ends up in this disaster.”
She said they worked without protective gear. “We have called and asked the municipality to help us but they do not come at all. There are no gloves, no gumboots, no suits, no brooms, no brushes and no chemicals.”
As a result, she collects money from residents to buy the desperately-needed cleaning chemicals. “We ask each resident to contribute R2 but the people complain that they can’t always pay.”
She said last time she was provided with cleaning materials was in 2011. “I have been pleading with the municipality to help us. Our councillor never gets back to us.
“I do not even get paid much for the work that I do here. I do not like the life we live in this place.”
Nobuntu Pamlana runs the Sunflower Educare Centre about 5km from the toilets in Section B1. She said water flowing from the toilets soiled their street and posed a health hazard to children.
“It is affecting the children badly. They always have sores and sometimes we ask them not to come to the centre so that they do not spread the sickness to others.
“They play with this water. It flows into our yard and we hired someone to clean it but we can’t always hire someone to clean a mess that does not belong to us.”
Resident, Thandile Mphunga said taps from the basins had also been removed by troublesome youngsters. “There are too many people using these toilets. They do not flush. This has been going on for many years. There are also no taps to wash our hands after we are done. It is not nice to live here.”
However, ward councillor Ayanda Mapisa on Friday said the residents were adding to their own woes.
“The taps are vandalised by the children. The residents and caretakers must monitor what happens at the toilets because the municipality is always fixing them.
“I have reported [this] to the municipality that the cleaners do not have cleaning material so the municipality is aware of that,” she said. — bhongoj@tisoblackstar.co.za..