These Families Have No Toilets, but Sewage From Other People’s Toilets Flows Past Their Homes

At the edge of the neat pavements and duplex homes of Pioneer Valley estate in Parklands North in Cape Town, fetid sewage flows into the neighbouring Riverside informal settlement.

Meanwhile, families in the settlement relieve themselves in the bush.

Riverside, established during the Covid lockdown in 2020, has no water, electricity, or refuse collection. Residents say the City of Cape Town’s drones often fly over the area and officers conduct foot patrols, but nothing has been done about persistent sewage flows.

They want the City of Cape Town to provide basic services including sanitation. But the City says the settlement is on a floodplain and is unsuitable for habitation.

City Mayco Member for Water and Sanitation Zahid Badroodien said the main causes of recurring sewage blockages in the area were rags and fats being thrown into the sewer mains, with occasional failures at the nearby pump station. He said response teams acted on complaints and cleared blockages as they arose.

Asked whether the City had upgraded sewer infrastructure before approving developments like Pioneer Valley, Badroodien said development plans were vetted by the Water and Sanitation Directorate’s Technical Services Department before approval.

If infrastructure constraints were identified, he said, they were flagged to the developers, in line with the City’s planning processes.

In March 2022, the City served the Riverside families with notices of intent to evict them, having already obtained an interdict against more shacks being erected on the site. The land contains endangered renosterveld and the City intends to incorporate it into the Table Bay Nature Reserve.

Formal eviction proceedings under the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act (PIE) have not yet materialised, but Deputy Mayor Eddie Andrews, who is Mayco Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, said the City intends to apply for an eviction order.

Andrews said the number of structures had increased since the interdict, when the City had recorded 230. A verification process was underway, he said.

“The land is unsuitable for habitation given that it is within a floodplain area,” said Andrews, adding that surveillance operations continue.

“Living here is very difficult. We have no toilets, no water, no electricity. We’re forced to relieve ourselves in the bushes,” said Sibusiso Phalera, who has lived in a one-room shack in Riverside since 2021 with his wife, four children and his sister.

“Homeowners and tenants in Pioneer Valley take pictures of us while we do that,” said Phalera.

Community leader Mzwakhe Dlamini said the community is willing to relocate if the City follows legal processes. Until then, he said, residents want the City to acknowledge their presence and provide access to basic services.

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