HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Ablution Facilities for the Homeless “Essential”

By Moyiga Nduru Reprint | | Print |

Moyiga Nduru

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 16 2006 (IPS) - Johannesburg is the financial heart of South Africa, and for those who gain a share of the city’s wealth, affluent homes await.

Far less fortunate is Johannesburg’s homeless population, variously put at between 500,000 to 800,000 people. In all, there are some 3.2 million people in the city, according to official figures.

“The number (of homeless persons) is very dodgy; there are no official statistics. The homeless move about a lot, so it’s difficult to keep record,” Ndai Mncedisi, director of the Johannesburg-based Paballo ya Batho, a homeless outreach programme administered by the Methodist Church, told IPS. (Paballo ya Batho is a Sotho name which translates as ‘Caring for the People’.)

Those without homes still require ablution facilities, however.

“They are essential for the homeless, in light of conditions they have found themselves in,” Jean du Plessis of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions said from the organisation’s office in the south-eastern city of Pietermaritzburg. The centre is a non-governmental group headquartered in Geneva.

IPS was not able to get comment on homeless ablution facilities from the Johannesburg City Council. But Paballo ya Batho, for one, offers toilets and showers for the destitute.

“We have two showers: one for women and the other for men. We also offer three toilet units which are used by the homeless for free,” said Mncedisi.

In addition, Paballo ya Batho provides other forms of assistance to a few hundred homeless persons on a weekly basis. “Our number is 400 people, young and old, who we feed every Wednesday. We offer them soup, bread and medicine,” Mncedisi noted.

The need for such assistance is likely to grow as the city council implements its policy of demolishing more than 200 buildings that have been declared unfit for residence.

“Some tenants have lived in these buildings for ten years,” observed Mncedisi.

According to a 2005 investigation by the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions and the South African Centre for Applied Legal Studies, at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, the evictions could affect upwards of 25,000 people.

Last year, 300 people were evicted from dilapidated buildings. The city council said it would only provide alternative accommodation for the children and aged in this group – this on a temporary basis.

Despite these hardships, Johannesburg continues to attract newcomers.

“There are many reasons why people come to Johannesburg and end up on the streets. Some do not have skills to land a good job. Some were farm and mine workers who have been laid off,” said Mncedisi.

“Most of (the homeless) are not from Johannesburg. Some come from the Eastern Cape (province) and others from Kwa-Zulu Natal province. After getting their matric, they come to Johannesburg thinking they will get a job,” he added, in reference to the final examinations that South African children sit before leaving school.

Still others are refugees from conflict-ridden African states such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Sudan and Cote d’Ivoire.

“Some recycle rubbish and earn 400 rand (about 65 dollars) a month. This is not enough in a city where a one-bed room in a low-income area costs between 800 and 1,200 rand (130 and 195 dollars) a month,” Mncedisi noted.

Scarcely better off than the homeless are those living in Johannesburg’s informal settlements, and shacks set up in the backyards of properties.

On its website, the city council estimates that there are 215,000 households living under these conditions in the metropolis. Soweto, the largest black settlement established under apartheid in the Johannesburg area, has 39 informal settlements with about 56,000 families.

By the end of June 2005, the city had expected to service 35,000 stands in 29 informal settlements with full water and sanitation facilities. But it only managed to service 20,000 stands.

“The water and sanitation programme will form the basis for the people’s housing process, where people are required to build their own houses,” notes the council website.