/ 10 June 2010

ANCYL presses Shiceka over Makhaza toilets

An ANCYL leader has told Minister Sicelo Shiceka that he is welcome to visit strife-torn Makhaza -- but he must bring toilets for the community.

A Cape Town African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) leader has told Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka that he is welcome to visit the strife-torn Makhaza settlement in Khayeltisha — but he must bring toilets for the community.

Shiceka was expected to visit Makhaza earlier this week to defuse escalating tensions there, but his spokesperson, Vuyelwa Qinga Vika, was later reported as saying Shiceka would come when his diary permitted.

Chumile Sali, deputy secretary of the ANCYL’s Dullah Omar region in Cape Town, told the Mail & Guardian it was “no use the minister just coming to the area with the media. What we need is toilets. If he doesn’t bring us toilets, there’s no need for him to come to Makhaza.”

According to newspaper reports, the violent protests have shaken the ANC, with senior leader Pallo Jordan allegedly storming out of a Western Cape task team meeting two weeks ago after being insulted by a youth league official.

Jordan allegedly criticised the league’s conduct after its Dullah Omar region led the move to demolish the corrugated-iron toilet enclosures erected by the Cape Town council.

Sali said he was not aware Jordan had visited Cape Town, but as a Makhaza resident he had experienced at first hand the pain of a community treated with indignity.

‘It’s very dangerous’
After two days of violent protest over the corrugated-iron toilet enclosures last week, 65 toilets were removed by the council, assisted by metro police.

“It’s hell. We’re all going to the toilet in the bush,” said Sali. “It’s very dangerous — people are scared of being raped or attacked. And it’s a violation of our human rights.”

Shiceka has been in communication with Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, who told a media briefing that she has invited him to inspect Makhaza with her. No date has been set for the visit.

The protests flared after the city first installed open toilets in Makhaza, believing it had struck an agreement with the community that each shack could have a toilet if residents paid for enclosures.

The city intended providing the prescribed national government norm of one toilet per five households in an informal settlement, but the community apparently requested a toilet for each household. Some residents erected enclosures, but others could not afford this, the league said.

The city eventually erected enclosures around all the remaining toilets, but these have been torn down twice during protests.

Sali said the World Cup would not prevent the Makhaza community from protesting if it applied for a permit, and that ANC national leaders had not asked the league in Makhaza to suspend protests until after the World Cup.

“Our protests has nothing to do with the ANC national. We are elected by the people,” he said. “There’s nothing in the Constitution that says we can’t protest during the World Cup if we apply first for a permit.”

Sali said he had not spoken to Cape Town mayor Dan Plato, as Plato “is just a puppet of Helen Zille. He can’t take any decision. We don’t speak to tokens,” he said. “He was just used to get black votes.”

Plato said the council had received a letter from the youth league’s attorneys “and they want to engage with us”. He added that the league had the right to apply for a permit to protest in Makhaza, “but should be careful not to embarrass the country and the party”.

Human Rights Commission report
Meanwhile, the long-awaited Human Rights Commission (HRC) report on the toilets saga has still not been released. Last week Sali said the commission was “useless and incompetent” for taking six months to report on a league complaint.

The commission immediately called a media conference in Cape Town last Friday, where it recommended that the city reinstall 51 toilets and enclose them.

Plato said the city was later told it would be given an extension by the HRC to reinstall the toilets but was still awaiting its report and an official letter.

“If we had to provide 51 residents with concrete enclosed toilets, we would have to do it for everyone,” said Plato.