DA must make good its promise

WHEN Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip stood up last year after the DA was given a mandate to govern the metro by voters, he made certain promises.

One of them was that his administration would remove bucket toilets from the city by the end of this year and replace them with dignified sanitation.

Sadly, that promise has not been kept.

An infrastructure, engineering and energy committee report tabled last week showed that 12 333 bucket toilets were still in use across the metro.

This means most households using this old-fashioned form of sanitation will still be using it for months, perhaps until June next year, if the metro meets its new deadline.

Senior politicians – including Trollip – are still planning to speak to communities about alternative sanitation facilities.

It is to their credit that many buckets have been replaced.

However, the municipality’s suggested interim solution of communal ablution blocks does not, in our view, meet the requirement of “dignified sanitation”.

There are many ways to describe “sanitation”.

After all, a bucket, chemical or flush toilet and a communal ablution block are all sanitation facilities, but quite naturally most residents would prefer a flush toilet, preferably inside their homes.

An ablution block, while perhaps cost-effective, is not a dignified solution.

It is not acceptable that residents have to leave the comfort of their homes and walk down the road.

There is also the added danger of using these facilities in the dark of night.

The municipality says chemical toilets are too expensive.

This leaves it, however, in the unpleasant situation of having to extend its self-imposed deadline.

While we agree that the DA-led coalition has made inroads in some areas of governance, it has fallen short on one of the pillars of its “change” campaign.

Indeed, Trollip’s brave words on this very issue may have swayed voters.

Now he and his team must put their shoulder to the wheel and follow through.