Durban - Appalling conditions and maggot-infested human waste is what greeted eThekwini city manager Sipho Nzuza during his visit to wards 47 and 54 in the Bester and KwaMashu areas last week.

Nzuza gave a graphic account of how residents survived with human waste in their homes, and how children played there. He was addressing the city’s executive committee (Exco) yesterday of his experience during a visit to the community, which still used ventilated improved pit (VIP) toilets.

After receiving numerous complaints from ward councillors about full and unusable toilets, he went to the area with officials from the Departments of Human Settlements and Water and Sanitation.

“I’ve never seen something like that. People staying in houses where there are no flushing toilets were sleeping next to open toilets overflowing with maggot-infested faeces. Just walking down the narrow road to the houses you see blocked stormwater drains. Children as young as five years old were playing, oblivious of the health hazards around them. What I saw was a disaster waiting to happen. I request to use Section 116 (3) to get funding to assist those people. Those toilets require immediate emptying to curb the spread of diseases and pollution,” Nzuza said.

The committee approved R29million for the emptying of the VIP toilets.