The Social Justice Coalition, a nongovernmental organisation working in Khayelitsha, has given the mayor of Cape Town a final letter of demand to provide the city's policy on its janitorial service.
The problem stems from the quality of toilets provided in the sprawling settlement of anywhere between 300 000 and a million people. These range from chemical toilets and portable toilets to flush toilets. The city says enough are provided and a great deal of money has been spent on service delivery.
The community, through the coalition, counters that most of the toilets do not work. Many are blocked and broken, while they are generally unhealthy and make going to the toilet nearly impossible.
The last time the Mail & Guardian visited Khayelitsha, Amanda Mcenge said the only way to use a toilet was to balance yourself by placing your hands against the walls and your feet on a brick or rock on the floor. "You have to do anything you can not to touch the toilet."
Because so many of the toilets in the blocks were not working, people would walk from far away to use a working toilet. Others would give up and use the nearby wetland – its water has been tested and found to be toxic as a result.
In an area plagued with violent crime, this has led to people being attacked while trying to use the bush or toilets. At night many residents use portable plastic toilets inside their homes rather than go out. This spreads disease.
Jo Barnes, a senior lecturer in community health at Stellenbosch University, said, "This kind of environment creates a situation where diarrhoea is not an affliction, but a fact of life."
The coalition offered a solution – the city would employ janitors to clean the toilets and report any problems. This would ensure they did not get to a state where they were not working.
The idea was taken up and a year ago janitors began work, but since then it has had endless problems. Patricia de Lille, executive mayor of Cape Town, admitted this, "I would like to apologise to the affected communities."
The 282 janitors did not have adequate clothes, training and were not monitored. But there was a learning curve, and the programme would be improved based on what had been learnt, she said.
The city asked the coalition to work with it to develop a policy for the janitors. A timeline for this would be presented in January, after which the policy would be hashed out. But this did not happen.
Dustin Kramer, the coalition's spokesperson, said, "Since our last report to the city on sanitation services things have gotten worse in some place. The old problems have continued, and new ones have arisen. It's become quite unacceptable."
On June 25, the coalition and hundreds of Khayelitsha locals marched through the streets of Cape Town, asking for "safe and dignified sanitation for all". A memorandum was presented to the mayor's office, giving her two weeks to produce a timeline for the development of a policy for the janitorial service.
In a response to this march, councillor Ernest Sonnenberg, mayoral committee member for utility service, said the coalition had "inaccurately portrayed the sanitation situation in Cape Town".
The city was the leading sanitation provider in the country, with 97% of the population having access to a toilet. "Teething problems" with the janitorial programme had also been addressed, and a policy had been developed – the Janitorial Services Operational Policy, he said.
But his department will not release this. When asked for a copy by the SJC, he replied that it was an internal working document.
With no evidence that a plan exists, the coalition has said it has to resort to legal action to force the situation to change. "They aren't leaving us any other option," said Kramer. The city now has five days to respond with the plan or the coalition will go to court, he said.
Solly Malatsi, the mayor's spokesperson, said they acknowledged receipt of the letter and would "respond to it in due course".