The City of Cape Town will enclose all 1 316 toilets that it built in Makhasa township after community residents approved a prototype that was erected by council workers after a protracted legal battle over the toilets.
The city has said it will not appeal against a decision by the Western Cape High Court that it had to enclose the toilets. In April Judge Nathan Erasmus ruled that the council had “lost sight of the constitutional rights and needs of the poor” and ordered that Cape Town’s council must enclose the toilets
Contractors working for the city started work on enclosing the toilets using prefabricated concrete panels on Monday.
Residents of Makhaza then inspected the first unit and were satisfied with it and gave the go-ahead for contractors to complete the work. It is expected that all toilets will be fully enclosed by the end of the week.
MeanwhileCapeTown’s mayor, Patricia de Lille has welcomed the community’s acceptance of the prototype and its willingness to co-operate with the contractors that are working there.
Lastyear Cape Town’s former mayor Helen Zille – who is now the Premier of the Western Cape – defended the Democratic Alliance’s decision not to enclose the toilets saying that residents in the township had undertaken to enclose them themselves.
However, they then said that they could not afford to pay for the materials needed to do the work and insisted that the council must do the work for them instead.
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Please request the City of Cape Town take photos of the toilets that are being enclosed as reported in the press. Then take photos of the same toilets three months from now and publish them as well. A challenge from a concerned citizen. - Francois Kriel