Municipalities are responsible for ensuring that informal settlement residents have access to basic sanitation, which is a crucial part of service delivery.
In the City of Johannesburg, the Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) toilets are considered the basic standard of sanitation that the city aims to provide to its residents as an interim form of sanitation.
Despite its name, the only thing distinguishing a Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrine from a basic pit latrine is the presence of a ventilation pipe and a sturdier structure. The ventilation pipe helps to trap flies and regulate odours.
Although VIP toilets are commonly used, there is currently no specific policy outlining the lifespan of these facilities. This includes details on the duration of their use, methods for repairing and maintaining the structure, assigning responsibilities for their upkeep, and decommissioning procedures at the end of their lifespan. Therefore, it is important to ensure that informal settlement residents have access to dignified and safe sanitation facilities.
VIP toilets are often dilapidated and broken, and therefore not functional. and some VIPs have been in use long past their lifespan. Another reason is that residents are not provided with the necessary education to ensure that their VIPs are used correctly and that they can maintain the top structure.
The Asivikelane initiative partners, acknowledge the difficulty presented by this neglect on the part of the municipality, which views pit emptying as part of maintenance work while overlooking the need for repairs to the structure itself.
Our Sanitation Hub brings different stakeholders together to focus on finding systemic solutions to repairs and maintenance of VIP toilets in the City of Johannesburg. The hub aims to eradicate VIPs that are dangerous and unusable and to fix and maintain the VIPs that are usable and fixable. Another challenge results from abandoned pit latrines that occur when residents are relocated.
VIP Mapping in the City of Johannesburg
Since May 2024, the Asivikelane campaign has been mapping VIP toilets in different settlements across the Metro. This initiative aims to assess the condition of the toilets provided under the current Metro framework, investigate reports from residents regarding issues they are experiencing with their toilets, and evaluate the level of user education and knowledge of toilet maintenance.
The ongoing mapping process has focused on 820 VIP toilets in 28 settlements, with the analysis covering the toilets mapped between May and June 2024. We recommend that:
The City of Johannesburg develops a comprehensive and costed policy for a full life cycle approach for a ventilated improved pit toilet, which includes, but is not limited to:
• Assisting residents with the repairs and maintenance of the structure, including the top structure and the chamber.
• Guidelines on when desludging must take place and what is required for desludging to take place.
• A standard approach to the lifespan of a VIP for a household.
• Steps setting out the process residents should follow when the toilet reaches the end of its life cycle.
• Approach to decommissioning a toilet when it is demolished, including a timeframe within which such decommissioning should be done.