The toilets get full before the end of the week and the waste truck only collects buckets once a week on Saturdays.

Community member Hlengiwe Vilane said: “The taps are too far from us. They are near the part of the community that stays next to the main road. I have to travel to get water when I want to do my laundry or do cooking.

“We want the government to provide us with more taps or else they must move us to a good place where we are going to be provided with better sanitation.”

Another community member, Zodwa Mahlaba, told OurHealth: “Our kids get sick, especially from diarrhea. These toilets are dirty and they have a bad smell that gets worse during summer when the temperatures get high. The smell becomes something you can’t stand.”

Fana Dhlamini, a community leader, said: “We are suffering in this place. The government keeps on promising that they will move us here but they don’t stick to their promises. Removing us is not a solution. We want the government to provide some form of interim servicing including water, sanitation and solid waste removal.”

OurHealth tried to get the response from the municipality but couldn’t get it.

Author