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SEVENTY-SIX cases of dysentery - including some fatalities
- have been reported after an outbreak at informal housing areas of Nyanga and
Guguletu. The disease was traced to contaminated water and poor sanitation, said
Ahmedi Vawda, Cape Town's director of community development.
"We have recognised for some time that informal areas
could become a health hazard so we are distributing potable water and providing
basic sanitation."
Sanitation would be improved by replacing the "night
soil" bucket sewage removal system with a reservoir system that was cleaned
out every few days.
City health officials had planned workshops with local
communities to raise awareness of the disease and how to combat it", Vawda
said.
"People often contaminate their drinking water or
pick up dysentery from unwashed hands. But it is not an infectious
disease."
According to Mike Marsden, director of municipal services,
the city's water mains would be extended into informal areas through shared
taps.
Electricity would also be extended to informal areas to
cut down on fires. The fire hydrant system would also be enlarged.
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The dysentery outbreak coincides with a hard-hitting
report outlining serious flaws in the Khayelitsha sewerage system, written by
the Service Delivery Task Group and due to be tabled next week at a Tygerberg
Council Community Services meeting. The study found that thousands of people were exposed to
serious health hazards due to blockages in sewer pipes that resulted in shacks
being flooded with raw sewage. Shacks built on top of manholes made it
impossible to clear the bockages, the report said. In one area only one out of
20 manholes was accessible.
"Most blockages occur on servitude sites where
informal squatters establish themselves without proper sanitation.
"These blockages sometimes last for weeks due to the
inaccessibility to the manholes. Informal squatters living in the public open
areas of Site B knock holes in the sides of manholes to dispose of nightsoil and
general refuse and in the winter, the stormwater runoff washes sand and other
material into these manholes and again causes blockages," the report said.
The latest figures reported an average 3816 blockages a month along the 2 600km
of sewers in the Tygerberg area.
The report recommended the relocation of illegal squatters
as well as an "integrated communication and information campaign" on
the role of services and the residents' responsibility towards services.
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