Swakop Municipality to lease mobile toilets to DRC informal settlement residents
By Adolf Kaure.
The Swakopmund Municipal Council will provide 50 private mobile toilets on a rental basis to the DRC informal residents after a motion to implement the project was passed during the latest ordinary council meeting.
This comes after the unhygienic sanitation situation in the DRC informal settlement came to Council’s attention.
According to the chairperson of the municipality’s Management Committee, Blasius Goraseb, the residents will be expected to pay a deposit for the cost of the mobile toilet before it is rented out to them for a trial period of one year. “The toilets will be delivered only after the contract is signed and upon payment of the deposit of the facility,” said Goraseb.
The unhygienic situation in the DRC informal settlement was brought about due to vandalising of the existing mobile toilets.
Budgetary provision will be made in the 2024/2025 annual budget for the mobile toilets and the General Manager of Health and Solid Waste Management will carry out further assessment on the cost implications of the sanitation concept.
Council has permitted its Health Services and Solid Waste Management to demolish about 52 vandalized and broken septic toilets in the DRC Proper. The estimated rental for the private mobile toilets, which will supplement the existing communal ablution facilities, will be N$10 per day or N$300 per month.
The residents will be responsible for cleaning while a contractor will empty the toilets once a week. This will enable the health department to make provision for operating expenses especially in areas that have not been serviced yet. Residents must enter into an agreement with Council by signing a contract and a deposit will be paid before a mobile toilet is rented out. This will ensure participation, ownership, and commitment from users.
Clients will be expected to ensure the controlled use of the facility to minimize vandalism. They will also be responsible for cleaning the toilet, take temporary ownership and teach children how to use a toilet.
“The current practice is not sustainable as the department spends large amounts of money on contractors that provide and maintain these facilities for free to the residents. This practice is not benefiting Council financially,” said Goraseb.
BACKGROUND
Many informal settlements lack access to sufficient and reasonable basic services including sanitary facilities and water supplies. In Swakopmund, about 487 septic tank toilets were constructed in the DRC Proper for a population of about 7000 inhabitants in 2005. Individual septic tank toilets were shared between two households, while some were shared by more than four households.
During 2022/2023, about six sanitation centres were constructed on open spaces in DRC. An additional centre was constructed by Development Workshop Namibia. These facilities, consisting of separate loos for men and women, have running water as well as a kiosk.
FURTHER SANITATION CHALLENGES
A barrier to the sanitation projects became the challenge of ensuring the services’ financial viability. The activity needs to be able to cover its investment, maintenance, and operational costs.
The mobile toilets are used by a lot of people, as a result they fill up rapidly. They frequently get so filthy that people are reluctant to use them.
Because they have nowhere to go, people then turn to utilizing plastic bags and buckets, which they subsequently dump in the closest skip container.
One of several vandalized mobile toilets in Swakopmund’s DRC informal settlement. (Photograph by Adolf Kaure)
