Over a quarter of toilets inspected in four Khayelitsha informal settlements are not in working order, Social Justice Coalition (SJC) said on Saturday.
This was one of the preliminary findings of a week-long social audit on
the janitorial service for communal flush toilets, the SJC said in a statement.

A social audit is a tool that enables community participation in monitoring government service delivery and spending.
On Saturday the SJC and Ndifuna Ukwazi hosted a public hearing to report back to communities on the social audit.

“At the public hearing… participants presented their evidence and
community members gave testimonies of their experiences of this service,” the SJC said.
The social audit also found that almost half of the toilets inspected were “either dirty or very dirty”.

Not all areas had enough janitors to service the toilets, and janitors did not have the required cleaning equipment or receive the required training.
The preliminary report also indicated that janitors were not being inoculated against disease and did not have the required protective personal equipment, the SJC said.

The SJC made headlines in September when 18 of its members were arrested along with Treatment Action Campaign founder Zachie Achmat after they chained themselves to railings of the Cape Town civic centre to demonstrate their frustration over sanitation provision in Khayelitsha. SAPA