The Community Survey 2016 data shows the Western Cape has the highest number of bucket toilets at 4 percent. Picture: David Ritchie The Community Survey 2016 data shows the Western Cape has the highest number of bucket toilets at 4 percent. Picture: David Ritchie
Cape Town - While the Western Cape has the highest number of households which have access to improved sanitation facilities (93.3 percent), it is still battling to shirk the perception it has the highest use of bucket toilets in the country.
Statistician-general Pali Lehohla said on Wednesday this was because, when asked, residents considered portaloos and eco toilets in the same light as they did bucket toilets.
According to an in-depth analysis of the General Household Survey 2002-2015 and the Community Survey 2016 data, the Western Cape has the highest number of bucket toilets at 4 percent.
Nationally, 1.2 percent of households used the bucket system.
The Free State (2.7 percent) and the Northern Cape (2.4 percent) followed the Western Cape according to Stats SA, although according to the national department of water and sanitation, the Free State has the highest number of bucket toilets.
In Cape Town, access to sanitation facilities is the third highest of the metros at 91.8 percent behind Joburg (96.8 percent) and Nelson Mandela Bay (94.6 percent).
Highlighting the case of Khayelitsha teenager Sinoxolo Mafevuka, who was strangled to death in a public toilet in March, Lehohla said the threat of physical safety and other challenges experienced by those who shared communal sanitation facilities, was concerning.
“We should not forget about those human tragedies that occur. It is not about numbers, it is about dignity,” he said.
Nationally, the percentage of households with access to improved sanitation facilities increased from 62.3 percent in 2002 to 80 percent last year.
After the Western Cape, Gauteng had the highest access to improved sanitation facilities at 91 percent while access in Limpopo was 54 percent and 65.8 percent in Mpumalanga.
In district councils, households residing in the Central Karoo (97.3 percent), Cape Winelands (96 percent), Overberg (95.5 percent) and Eden (94.6 percent) reported the highest percentages in terms of access to improved sanitation.
“The odds of households in the other eight provinces having access to unimproved sanitation facilities were greater than the odds of households in the Western Cape,” said Lehohla.
According to the survey analysis, Western Cape households also have the highest access to tap water - 99.4 percent - and these households also rated the quality of their water as the best in the country.
“The odds of households in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo to access unimproved drinking water sources were greater than the odds of households in the Western Cape,” said Lehohla.
Households in the Cape Town metro are among the top who pay for their water at around 55.6 percent after the City of Tshwane (66.6 percent) and eThekwini (62.5 percent).
lindsay.dentlinger@inl.co.za
Cape Argus