ANC veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is leading a national task team to tackle the highly embarrassing issue of unclosed and incomplete toilets in many parts of the country.

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale yesterday unveiled the task team following a series of media reports exposing the inhumane conditions that compromised the privacy of inhabitants of informal settlements.

The settlements include Moqhaka in Free State, Moutse in Limpopo and Makhaza in Western Cape.

Other members of the task team include former intelligence inspector-general Faizel Randera, former truth and reconciliation commissioner Tom Manthata and Patrick Magebhula, who is on Sexwale's advisory panel.

The departments of Health, Water and Environmental Affairs and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs are due to add seconded representatives to the team.

Admitting that the extent of the problem was unknown, Sexwale said his department felt honoured that Madikizela-Mandela had accepted to provide a helping hand to a constituency which had always been close to her heart - the poorest of the poor.

"These incomplete or unclosed toilets strip our people of their dignity ...the team is tasked with identifying and locating such structures in order to have them fixed.

"This sordid chapter must be brought to an end," Sexwale said.

Madikizela-Mandela said: "Together with all the task team members, we are humbled to be requested by our own children within (the) Human Settlements (Department) to give our limited time towards our poor communities ..."