Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Africa water, Sanitation May-June2015 Vol. 10 No.3 | Page 6

NEWS in brief
South Africa
Lukewarm Response to New Toilets in Khayelitsha

Around Africa

responsibility, the City of Cape Town and national
government are co-operating in the implementation of
these pilot projects.
Mahobe said that in Taiwan section residents refused
to use the toilets, because the person who was installing
a sample refused to tell residents how the toilets will be
cleaned. “I think it is time our government involved us
when taking decisions. These toilets are going to be given
to us but no one is telling us how they are going to work,”
he added.
Sibusiso Zonke from BM informal settlement agreed with
Mahobe saying more explanation is needed. “These toilets
will be flushed but the sewerage will be stored in a tank at
the back of the toilet. But till when? That’s the question.
And we need explanations,” he said.

Minister of Water Affairs and Sanitation Nomvula
Mokonyane announced in Khayelitsha recently the launch
of pilot projects of new mobile toilets. But residents’
reactions were somewhat sceptical.

Sudan
Meningitis Cases, Drinking Water Shortage in
Khartoum

Sisa Mahobe, who lives in Taiwan section, Khayelitsha,
said, “The problem is we have flush toilets, but they have
not been serviced. Some of these toilets are blocked. Now
they building us new ones and we do not know how they
going to maintain them. And we were not even informed
about the installation of [these] new toilets. We still need
someone to tell us more about [them]. How many people
are going to use them? When are they going to be cleaned
and on which days?”
The two project sites are BM Section informal settlement
in Site B and
BT informal
settlement
in Site C.
Each
site
has received
ten
toilets,
five for men
and five for
women. The
sites have two
security guards
deployed
in
each
facility
all day, and
residents
have
access
24 hours a
day. Although
sanitation
Four years ago: Cllr June Frans stands next to
is
a
local
one of the open air toilets in Khayelitsha. Their
position right next to the road is very clear. g o v e r n m e n t

Shortage of water in the Sudan

Omdurman — The children’s emergency hospital in
Omdurman has received, within the past two weeks, 53
cases of meningitis, amid the severe heat wave that swept
central Sudan. Residents in parts of Khartoum are not
receiving drinking water, and went out to protest against
the supply’s disruption.
A hospital official reported the number of meningitis cases
recently.
Dozens of women of El Kalakla area in