LERATO LELIA
The Free State and the Northern Cape are among the provinces that were most likely to lack access to toilet facilities or to still use bucket toilets. This is according to the latest results of the General Household Survey (GHS) that were released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) last week.
The results showed that 7.7% of the households in the Free State and 7.4% in the Northern Cape still lacked toilet facilities. “In the Free State it is primarily bucket toilets and we have engaged with municipalities on these particular statistics. What seems to happen is that as soon as the bucket toilet system is replaced with a new and improved system, the buckets seem to move somewhere else to an informal settlement where there are no toilet facilities. So they really battle to bring down this number to below 7.7%,” said Executive manager of Social Statistics, Isabelle Schmidt.
“We acknowledge that much has been done to eradicate the bucket system in the Free State but many communities today are still forced to make use of these. This compromises our people’s right to dignity,” said Free State DA research and communications officer, Chris Steyl.
The DA welcomed the R230 million additional funding made available by the National Treasury. “The money is exclusively for the eradication of the bucket system in the province and we will monitor the projects closely and ensure that the money is spent appropriately,” added Steyl.
According to Statistics South Africa, the percentage of households with access to improved sanitation, that is flush toilets or pit toilets with ventilation pipes, did however increase from 62, 3% in 2002 to 77,9% in 2013. The percentage of households without access to any sanitation facilities, or who were still using a bucket, similarly continued to decline, decreasing from 12, 3% in 2002 to 5,1% in 2013.
Approximately 30 000 households across the country were surveyed. Stats SA conducted the survey between January and December last year.
