Kids covered in sores

Filthy disease-ridden area with faeces thrown on roads

RESIDENTS of the RR informal settlement in Khayelitsha in Cape Town, whose children's bodies are covered in sores, say unhygienic living conditions and a nearby dirty pond are the causes.

The residents told Sowetan they were faced with regular outbreaks of several diseases as a result of the "appalling conditions" they were forced to live under.

Dubbing RR the unhealthiest community in Khayelitsha, several people said the settlement's sewage drain burst on a monthly basis, causing an unbearable stench.

"Our children have sores and rashes on their bodies because of this filthy place. Both my children had oozing sores on their heads immediately after they had recovered from a rash last month," Noludwe Ncwana said.

She said the rashes were caused by a filthy pond in the area that the children played in. She said parents had to constantly try and keep their children out of the water.

"I had to borrow money to send them to hospital because there's no one working in this house. We survive on their children's grant," explained Ncwana.

She cited TB as the major serious disease affecting older people in RR.

"Most people are sick here. This is not a place fit for humans, but we go on living here because we do not have any option. If I could find another place I would move and build another shack there because I can see it is a long process to get a house," she said.

Lungiswa Vanya, whose three-year-old child was covered with leg sores, said there was little development in the area.

"Since I arrived in this place in 2003 little development has occurred. There's no electricity. We have to connect from other houses on the other side of the railway line."

Vanya described the RR as poverty-stricken.

"Life here is boring. Every day there's a crime because people are unemployed. But we vote each and every election."

She said the city cleaned the area, but it was not enough.

"There's no order here. People discard faeces and urine on the roads at night while our children play there during the day," Vanya said.

Mother of a six-month-old baby, Weziwe Nqentsu, said: "My child has a stomach ache and diarrhoea because of this mess."

Residents said their ANC councillor was of no help. He had visited them during the local government election campaign and had commiserated with their plight, but had never returned after being elected.

The Social Justice Coalition (SLJ) cleaned up the area on Saturday, telling residents not to wait for the city to do everything for them.

"We must also take the initiative," the SJC's Jackson Gilana said.

SJC member, Nomangesi Matshekete, described RR as very unhygienic, citing poor sanitation as the main problem.

"Most of the toilets became blocked long ago and only a few are working. Some people use buckets and discard the faeces and urine on the roads at night," she said, adding there were only four communal taps and 15 working flushing toilets for more than 1000 people.