Human settlements minister, Thembi Simelani, said the continued use of pit toilets and ongoing sewage spillage remain troubling in several provinces, including the Free State. She emphasised these challenges have been raised with president Cyril Ramaphosa in an effort to secure additional funding.

“The Free State has got blocked projects in almost all the areas, be incomplete social housing, be incomplete asbestos, be incomplete eradication of two rooms and bucket sewage systems, which persist. 

“Our motivation to the president beyond blocked projects is that we should be allowed to create extra conditions in the upgrading of the settlement grant and take out hundred thousand, close to two hundred thousand people who are still using the bucket system in the Free State, it's uncalled for.” 

Water and sanitation minister, Pemmy Majodina, had also expressed scepticism about fully eradicating the bucket toilet system in the province, citing the rapid growth of informal settlements as a major obstacle.

“In terms of sanitation and the backlog on the bucket system, I will never commit to eradicating those bucket systems because … you are chasing a moving target. As long as there are mushrooming informal settlements, they mushroom with informal bucket systems that we do not authorise.” 

Although her department provides financial support to municipalities through infrastructure grants, many Free State municipalities continue to struggle to maintain infrastructure and eliminate the bucket system. This has led to growing frustration among affected communities.

In Mangaung alone, approximately 79,000 households are without access to water. Of these, 50,744 rely on pit toilets, while 28,256 still use bucket toilets.

Mangaung metro mayor, Gregory Nthatisi, said an estimated R300 billion is required to eradicate pit toilets and bucket toilets in the metro. He confirmed the metro has applied for grants to address the ongoing sanitation challenges.

“You should know that water-borne toilets should be with water, and you should know that Mangaung is a water-scarce city. We are also looking at providing water, and for that we have also applied together with the department of water affairs, a pipeline that comes from Xhariep district, that will provide water, even if its 1%, it's enough to cater for the entire Mangaung to ensure we do not have problems with water.” 

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi dg

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