Critical assessment of right to safe water and sanitation in a South African informal settlement

78 Pages·2017·3.69 MB·English

Critical assessment of right to safe water and sanitation in a South African informal
settlement: A Case Study of Marikana, Cape Town
By: Ntomboxolo Danti
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Research dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requireements for the degree of Master of
Philosophy in Faculty of Engineering and the Builtp Environment at University of Cape
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Superviysor: Dr. Tom Sanya
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November 2017
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The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No
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quotation from it or information derived from it is to be

published without full acknowledgeement of the source.
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The thesis is to be used for private study or non-
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commercial research purposes only.

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Published by the Universit y of Cape Town (UCT) in terms
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of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author.
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DECLARATION
I know the meaning of plagiarism and declare that all the work in the document, save for the
properly acknowledged, is my own. This dissertation has been submitted to the Turnitin module
(or equivalent similarity and originality checking software) and I confirm that my supervisor has
seen my report and any concerns revealed by such have been resolved with my supervisor.
Name: Ntomboxolo Danti
Signature: …………………
Date: 01 November 2017
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DEDICATION

To my father, Brownlee Sikhululo Danti, thank you for believing in me.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge Dr. Tom Sanya for supervising my work. I thank Dr. Tom Sanya for
the topic of the right to safe water and sanitation and his passion for Africa’s development.
I would like to acknowledge the City of Cape Town employees I engaged with especially the
employees of Water and Sanitation Department for the interviews conducted and for the availed
data information for this research.

I would like to thank the Marikana households, an activist who assisted during the interviews
and site observations including the ward councilor who arranged protection measures for my
safety. I would also like to thank my family and friends for their love. The accomplishment of this
work would not have been without the inputs of these various individuals.

Finally, to God be the glory, for there is nothing I can do without Him, and there is nothing I have
without Him.

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ABSTRACT

The Bill of Rights in the Constitution of South Africa mandates the promotion of human dignity,
equality, and freedom. To attain these three mentioned aspects, the Bill of Rights stipulates that
every person has the right to safe water and sanitation and this is done to improve the welfare
of every citizen.

South Africa has approximately 13% (7.27 million) of its population staying in informal
settlements. Most of these informal settlements were formulated during the land invasion and so
on and has since been increasing throughout South Africa. This study sought to assess whether
informal dwellers have access to safe water and sanitation, what is the state of the water and
sanitation facilities. The assessment was conducted in terms of the Bill of Rights in the
Constitution of South Africa and WHO. Marikana informal settlement in Cape Town was used as
a case study.

Safe water and sanitation to all remain a challenge in South Africa, notwithstanding the
commendable efforts since 1994, to provide access to safe water and sanitation as a right to all
people. Based on empirical findings and analysis of relevant documents, the study views the
water and sanitation in SA informal settlements as unsafe. The sanitation facilities are
inadequate thus contributing to existing open defecation. The coverage of the water and
sanitation facilities is not enough, therefore, compromising the right to access safe water and
sanitation. The findings show evidence of non-operational water supply infrastructure. The
uncleanliness of the existing sanitation facilities contributes to health issues like water-borne
diseases. The sanitation facilities lack the human right factor, for an example, facilities are not
designed to accommodate the elderly and physical disable people. Though South Africa made
commendable progress in providing access to water and sanitation nationally, the inequality in
the provision of safe water and sanitation exists; there is lack of freedom due to the poor safety
of public facilities and overcrowded settlements, and the protection of human dignity is still an
issue in informal settlements.

In general, while the study identifies the existence of comprehensive national legislative and
policy frameworks in support of providing safe water and sanitation in informal settlements,
there are various challenges such as availability of land, inadequate housing, policy
implementation, infrastructure maintenance and so on, that hinder the right to safe water and
sanitation and has a possibility to hinder the fulfillment of South Africa’s vision 2030 goal to
provide access to piped water and flush toilets by all people.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ........................................................................................................................... II
DEDICATION .............................................................................................................................. III
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... IV
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. V
Terms and Definitions ............................................................................................................... X
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. XI
List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... XII
List of Plates ............................................................................................................................ XIII
Acronyms ............................................................................................................................... XIV
1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1
1.1. Overview of the right to safe water and sanitation .......................................................... 1
1.2. Problem statement and research questions .................................................................... 2
1.3. Objective of the study ..................................................................................................... 3
1.4. Justification of study ........................................................................................................ 3
1.5. Outline of the study ......................................................................................................... 4
2. MOTIVATION OF THE STUDY AREA .................................................................................. 5
2.1. Overview of informal settlements in South Africa ............................................................ 5
2.2. Marikana settlement ........................................................................................................ 6
2.3. Description of the study area .......................................................................................... 7
3. LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................................... 8
3.1. Statutory right to safe water and sanitation ..................................................................... 8
3.1.1. What is safe water .......................................................................................................... 8

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3.1.2. What is safe sanitation .................................................................................................... 9
3.2. Legal context with respect to right to safe water and sanitation .................................... 10
3.2.1. The Constitution of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) ....................................................... 10
3.2.2. Water Services Act 108 of 1997 (WSA) ........................................................................ 11
3.2.3. National Water Act (NWA) No. 36 of 1998 .................................................................... 11
3.2.4. National Health Act (NHA) 2003 ................................................................................... 12
3.2.5. National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 (NEMA) ................................... 12
3.2.6. Housing ACT No 107 of 1997 ....................................................................................... 12
3.2.7. National Sanitation Policy (NSP) 2016) ........................................................................ 12
3.2.8. National Treasury of South Africa ................................................................................. 13
3.3. South Africa Vision 2030 – National Development Plan ............................................... 14
3.4. Government roles and responsibilities .......................................................................... 15
3.5. Maintenance and sustainability of infrastructure ........................................................... 16
3.6. Contextualizing access to water and sanitation in SA ................................................... 18
3.6.1. The state of access to water in SA ................................................................................ 18
3.6.2. The State of access to sanitation in SA ........................................................................ 19
3.7. Summary ...................................................................................................................... 20
4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................... 22
4.1. Data acquisition ............................................................................................................ 22
4.2. Methods of data collection ............................................................................................ 23
4.2.1. Primary data ................................................................................................................. 23
4.2.2. Secondary data ............................................................................................................. 24
4.2.3. Water quality testing ..................................................................................................... 24

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4.3. Data analysis and presentation ..................................................................................... 25
4.3.1. The right to safe water and sanitation assessment criterion ......................................... 25
4.4. Limitations of the study ................................................................................................. 29
5. RESEARCH FINDINGS ...................................................................................................... 30
5.1. Overview ....................................................................................................................... 30
5.2. Safe water ..................................................................................................................... 30
5.2.1. Main source of drinking water for household ................................................................ 30
5.2.2. Time is taken to collect water ........................................................................................ 31
5.2.3. Water quality testing ..................................................................................................... 34
5.2.4. Individuals collecting water ........................................................................................... 35
5.3. Safe Sanitation.............................................................................................................. 36
5.3.1. Type of toilet facility ...................................................................................................... 36
5.3.2. Distance traveled to the toilet facilities .......................................................................... 37
5.3.3. Coverage of the sanitation facilities .............................................................................. 37
5.3.4. Conditions of the toilet facilities ..................................................................................... 38
5.4. Solid waste management .............................................................................................. 43
5.5. Public hygiene and safety ............................................................................................. 45
5.6. Water and sanitation maintenance and sustainability ................................................... 46
5.7. Summary of research findings ...................................................................................... 47
6. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................... 52
7. LIST OF APPENDICES ...................................................................................................... 54
7.1. Appendix 1: Fieldwork record ....................................................................................... 54
7.2. Appendix 2: Interview guide for Marikana residents and City of Cape Town officials ... 55

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7.3. Appendix 3: Laboratory water testing ............................................................................ 58
8. References ......................................................................................................................... 61

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