Yesterday was World Toilet Day - it passed without much fanfare and notice - this despite the widespread horror and disgust that we all experienced when the poo-protests happened - it was inconceivable that people disenchanted with poor service delivery could do the unthinkable and fling the contents of toilets into public spaces. But yesterday, our outrage forgotten, World Toilet Day passed with hardly a murmur from the chattering classes. Did we remember the needs of those desperately poor people with nowhere to relieve themselves? Did we spare a thought to the indignity that the old, the infirm and the young must suffer when they have to use the veldt or the bucket system sans door, to perform the most basic and fundamental human physiological bodily process? A UN Report notes an annual death toll of 800 000 children due to diarrhea. Why cannot the installation of a toilet be mandatory? Housing for all is a constitutional right. Toilet facilities should be understood to be an integral part of the concept of housing. The lack of such facilities leads to all sorts of illnesses and diseases, not to speak of exposure to crimes, violence, brutality . Cost should not be a barrier - Nkandla, arms deals, high value luxury vehicles, presidential and other Jets, etc - all these are expendable - and can be ditched in favour of basic sanitation for all. My siblings and I remember our fraught days in similar circumstances - though it was with dignity and hygiene - and will NEVER countenance such circumstances ever again!
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 10:31:22 +0000