Cape Town study confirms that toilets count, people matter

Abstract

Sanitation The municipal elections in 2011 and the politic­ king around the so­called ‘open toilets’ of Makhaza (Western Cape) and Moqhaka (Free State) highlighted the challenges South Africa still faces around sustain­ able sanitation provision in many parts of South Africa. Like many other cities and towns across the country, the City of Cape Town (CoCT) is faced with a problem of how to provide adequate sanitation services to its more than 200 infor ­ mal settlements. While basic services have been provided to many, they often fail to meet residents’ expectations as a consequence of poor operation and maintenance programmes or inadequate user consultation. One informal settlement in Cape Town, Barcelona, has provided a specific set of geographical conditions which have compounded the problems associated with sanitation delivery and required an alternative approach to conventional gravity­based sanitation provision. UniqUe settlement The settlement itself is unique as it is situated directly atop a capped and abandoned solid waste site.

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