THANDI Mazibuko, and seven other people with whom she lives in a mud house in Tshiame, uses a makeshift toilet that does not have a door.

Asked about how they endured such indignity, Mazibuko said: " We just go in there and do our thing. What can we do? We are poor."

Another resident, Frida Gwala, who uses a neighbour's toilet because she does not have one, when asked about her situation, said all she ever wanted was a house, a toilet and a tap with water, "just likeeverybody else".

What is happening at Maluti-a-Phufong, where the poor people are expected to suffer the indignity of relieving themselves without privacy, is symptomatic of how the government has failed to address one of the key tenets of the anti-apartheid struggle.

That is the need to revive the human dignity of the then oppressed black majority.

It is an example of how a government that was democratically elected to power to ensure that the oppressed majority are treated like human beings has actually "dropped the political ball".

What is happening in Tshiame comes on the back of another toilet saga in Viljoenskroon, where the poor were once again expected to suffer the humiliation of relieving themselves in open-air toilets.

These incidents are a clear indication of how corruption and maladministration can undermine any government's ability to uphold the most important principles of our Constitution - human rightsand dignity.