Members of the Khayelitsha Development Forum and councillors who attended the water and sanitation forum meeting at the Khayelitsha Training Centre, on Thursday February 2, have called for solutions to the water and sanitation crisis facing Monwabisi Park residents.
Monwabisi Park and Ndlovini residents have no access to proper toilets and sanitation.
Those who are fortunate, use buckets of water to flush their toilets.
Those who attended the meeting called on local goverment and the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) to come up with a plan to deliver drinking water to these residents.
They also called on local and provincial government to work together on issues that needed their attention.
This follows a probe by a water and sanitation forum into water supply problems in the area.
With Monwabisi residents experiencing poor service delivery, most of the people at the meeting felt creative ways were needed to bring change into people’s lives.
Deputy director for the department, Jacob Ngo, said he had been working with the forum after they had gathered information from the Social Justice Coalition and visited the area.
He said they discovered that people used 25-litre buckets to flush the communal toilets.
“They use 25 litres of water to flush something that needs seven litres.
“That is a waste of water. But there are pota-pota toilets too. Another challenge is roads within the shacks,” he said.
KDF chairperson Ndithini Tyhini made a call for all the stakeholders to work hard to develop the area.
“As KDF, we encourage the working together of all three spheres of government.
“Remember at the centre are people who should get services,” he said.
Boniswa Hene, director of regulations for the department in the province, said it was not easy for the department and the City to do some of the things together.
She said the department dealt with the bulk of the water and checked whether people had water.
“I noted people saying we are not advancing inter-governmental relationships. That might be true. I suspect because we are national and there is a City. There are also politics involved.
“But we expect people of Monwabisi to have services. We are told engineers were once there.
“It is said the City said the topography (of the land) does not allow the City to implement some of the services,” she said.
Johnson Fetu, sub-council 9 manager, called on everyone to work towards developing the area. He said there were serious issues to deal with in Monwabisi.
Mr Fetu said it was time to unlock the impasse and move forward.
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