This had now become a serious health hazard especially due to the heatwave. The South African Humans Rights Commission (SAHRC) revealed through their report released in September last year that a large percentage of households in the province had no sanitation facilities.

The commission said although the bucket system had declined rapidly in the last couple of months the backlog was still high. The report showed that the number of buckets had significantly dropped from 17.2% in 2002 to 5.5% in 2017.

The commission said the Free State province was still experiencing a lot of challenges in relation to water and sanitation. These challenges ranged from water shortages to the continued use of bucket toilets. Some of the areas where bucket toilets were still being used included parts of Masilo, Winburg, Botshabelo, Thaba Nchu and Tokologo municipalities.

The SAHRC also found that because of the money owed to various municipalities, some other projects aimed at eradicating the bucket system had stalled. The residents of many towns in the province had often complained about the bucket system describing it as unhealthy and degrading. Gladys Mofokeng of Phase 7, Mangaung, said they had lost faith in the government after promises that the bucket system would be abolished a long time ago.

“We lost count of how many times the officials from the government have visited the area and said they would be doing away with the system but until today we are still waiting. The smell in this heat is so severe.”

Another resident from Bophelong township, Ditira Motsamai said she would not lose patience because he had no choice but to wait. “This is really sad considering that we have been staying here for a very long time and we are still using the bucket system. “We all know how unhealthy it is to be living in such conditions but we just have to be upbeat that it will be solved one day.”
She said she had stopped complaining because over and over again they had been promised that the bucket system would be eradicated but today they still lived with them.

Water and sanitation provincial manager, Aggrey Mohapi said the Bucket Eradication Programme target in the province stood at about 21 000 units for the financial year 2017-18. “To date the department has built close to 9000 flushing units and the remaining 11000 have been built but not yet flushing due to lack of bulk infrastructure.
“The remaining work is still ongoing to complete,” he said. Mohapi said due to the fact that the local municipalities did not have the required bulk infrastructure the department would in the next year allocate resources to complete the bulk infrastructure to ensure that the built toilets were flushing.

Source: The New Age