Sanitation
Human waste flows through the streets of Hout Bay
Residents call for the City to urgently fix the problem to prevent “a health emergency”
Text by Liezl Human. Photos by Ashraf Hendricks.
News | 15 July 2025
People live in squalor as City of Joburg’s development plans gather dust
Over 700 plots in Zandspruit, intended for residents to build their own homes, have stood vacant for six years.
Brief | 11 July 2025
Two boys drown at abandoned sewer project
Oxidation ponds in Centane, Eastern Cape, were abandoned 25 years ago after objections by the traditional authority and local residents
Brief | 9 July 2025
Durban residents battle “sewage crisis”
The DA in KwaZulu-Natal is to take the eThekwini municipality to court
Brief | 4 July 2025
These families have no toilets, but sewage from other people’s toilets flows past their homes
Riverside informal settlement is built on a floodplain, says City of Cape Town, so services can’t be provided
News | 18 June 2025
Out of the black and into the red – Theewaterskloof municipality’s rapid decline
Rot set in straight after the 2021 local government elections
Feature | 18 June 2025
Sewage, garbage, dirty water: Theewaterskloof is in a mess after years of bad management
But the new municipal manager hopes to get things back on track
Feature | 17 June 2025
Pit toilets from the 1980s are still in use at this Eastern Cape school
Parents at Bhetshwana Primary, which has 200 learners, say the school has begged the education department for toilets for decades
Brief | 12 June 2025
Families were promised RDP homes. Instead they were left for 15 years without services
Eastern Cape Department of Human Settlements says construction will happen later this year
News | 9 June 2025