Sanitation has received recognition as a human right at an international level. The United Nations General Assembly through a resolution and the United Nations Human Rights Council, in a resolution affirmed the right to water and sanitation as part of international human rights law.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through Goal 6 has called upon states to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation by 2030. 

Broken promises and missed targets

In South Africa, although access to sanitation is not listed among the rights contained in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution, sanitation is a municipal duty as evinced by Part B of Schedule 4 of the Constitution.

In fact, through legislation and policies, such as the Water Services Act 108 of 1997, South Africa has entrenched access to sanitation. According to the Regulations Relating to Compulsory National Standards and Measures to Conserve Water, basic sanitation is defined as "a toilet which is safe, reliable environmentally sound, easy to keep clean, provides privacy and protection against the weather, well ventilated, keeps smells to a minimum and prevents entry and exit of flies and other disease-carrying pests."

In plans such as the National Development Plan 2030, the National Sanitation Policy, and the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan, South Africa has made commitments regarding sanitation. One such commitment is to tackle the bucket toilet system. However, this has seemed elusive.

The bucket toilet system is a sanitation system in which a person uses a bucket by sitting on or over it in the manner of a toilet to collect excrement. Government has committed to eradicating the bucket toilet system as far back as 2003. For instance, in the Strategic Framework for Water Services, which was adopted by Cabinet, the government resolved to eradicate the bucket toilet system by 2006. 

Regrettably, these commitments have not been met. These commitments have often not been met even with funds earmarked for projects being available.

The Bucket Eradication Programme (BEP), a focused programme to tackle the bucket toilet system in Eastern Cape, Free State, North West and Northern Cape was introduced in 2013. However, information reveals how the BEP has been marred by delays and huge underspending.

For instance, for the financial years 2022/23 and 2023/24, an annual target of tackling the 10 798 existing bucket sanitation backlog systems in formal settlements was set by the DWS. Yet, zero bucket toilets were replaced with adequate sanitation systems over the two financial year period. Significantly, over three financial years, from 2020-21 to 2022-23, the DWS has spent less than 10% of its allocated budget on the BEP.

Bucket toilet system a thing of the present

Given this lackadaisical approach, it is no surprise that the bucket toilet system continues to be a thing of the present. 

According to Statistics South Africa’s municipal census, 37 out of 257 municipalities provided bucket toilets in 2020. Census 2022 records that 2.1% of households in South Africa utilised bucket toilets as a form of sanitation in 2022. According to the Non-Financial Census of Municipalities 2022, released by Statistics South Africa in March 2024, the Free State is the province with the highest usage of the bucket toilet system in the country.

Institutions such as the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), which are vanguards of human rights, have continued to investigate and bemoan the existence of the bucket toilet system and lack of access to sanitation. For instance, in an investigation into the plight of residents of Palamakuwa in Extension 5 Lehurutse in Zeerust, the SAHRC found that Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality and Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipality had failed in their duty to provide sanitation to the residents of Palamakuwa.

The SAHRC in a report, has previously called on government to hasten its pace in eradicating the bucket toilet system.

Utilisation of the bucket system as a form of sanitation is abhorrent and constitutes an affront to the right to dignity. The bucket system has serious effects on public health and affects one’s sense of well-being.

Indeed, factors such as water scarcity, rapid population growth, climate change, and rapid urbanisation continue to put a strain on the government’s efforts to tackle the bucket toilet system.  However, these should not deter the government from abiding by its commitment to universal safe and hygienic sanitation by 2030.

Government cannot afford to bury its head in the sand. Rather, it must tackle these challenges head-on.

As the world commemorates world toilet day on 19 November, South Africa must explore solutions and move from policy rhetoric to policy implementation in addressing sanitation woes in the country. A toilet is an essential space in our lives. It must be a safe space. Thirty years since the advent of democracy, it surely cannot be that the bucket toilet system is a thing of the present.

- Dr Henk Boshoff, is a commissioner and Peacemore Mhodi, is a research advisor at the South African Human Rights Commission.