Sanitation crisis in Ramaphosa informal settlement dehumanises people

Mail & Guardian

04-06-2025

There is a sanitation crisis In numerous informal settlements around South Africa. Photo: Sewage waste. Delwyn Verasamy/M&G
There is a sanitation crisis in the Ramaphosa informal settlement in Emfuleni, Vereeniging, Gauteng. On 20 May,
Eyewitness News
reported that residents were forced to use buckets and pit latrines to relieve themselves because the mobile toilets had not been cleaned for several months.
Frieda Veeris, who lives in Ramaphosa, expressed her dissatisfaction with the situation and told of the unbearable stench and the maggots in the toilet bowls. She was concerned that her family would be vulnerable to infections from the toilets.
The sanitation crisis is not only an inhumane injustice to the people living in this informal settlement but also an environmental issue that is overlooked and often ignored by the government.
The inequality experienced by the residents of Ramaphosa has affected their health, because the failure to clean the mobile toilets has resulted in constant illnesses.
The suspension of environmental services means people living in informal settlements such as Ramaphosa are prone to premature death and reproductive issues, especially women and girls, because they contract infections.
The degrading living conditions in Ramaphosa informal settlement dehumanise people. This is the dismantling of a black community, a violence with compounding issues.
The ablution facilities have not been serviced because the Emfuleni local government says it does not have the money to pay for it. It has prioritised the economy over human lives.
While residents continue to battle the sanitation crisis, the Emfuleni municipality has responded with a request for residents to give them five more months to clean the toilets. How are people expected to survive in these five months?
Although the national government has set clear targets for housing, implementation at the municipal level is an issue, with reports of corruption and mismanagement hindering progress.
But corruption should not be an excuse for lack of accountability and action. This further increases the gap between the elites and the poor, where the poor always get the short end of the stick, almost reproducing the injustices of apartheid.
It could be argued that informal settlements are spreading rapidly because people are occupying land and erecting shacks without going through the appropriate channels. OFM news reporter Kekeletso Mosebetsi reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed concern regarding the prevalence of informal settlements during a door-to-door campaign trail in Botshabelo, Bloemfontein.
The RDP programme has a huge backlog with more than 2.4 million households still in need of their promised house. Experts have further warned that the housing issue could continue to rise to a predicted 71% by the year 2030.
The National Development Plan, which was introduced in 2012 as a vision for 2030, is said to aim to unite South Africa, unleash the energies of its citizens, build an inclusive economy, enhance the state and leaders working together to solve complex problems. This is in the very first line of the NDP page online.
South Africa is plagued by unemployment, electricity issues, a healthcare system that is slowly deteriorating and informal settlements that are predominantly populated by black people who continue to live in unbearable conditions with their rights constantly being violated. With only five years left until 2030, perhaps it is time we face the reality that the vision is all that it is — a vision.
The government should look back at the National Development Plan and the 31 years of democracy and see what it has achieved.
Kabelo Motswagae holds an MA in sociology from the University of Johannesburg and Nokuthula Pheza is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology, University of Johannesburg.