The perceptions of the residents of Polokwane on alternative faecal sludge management

Abstract

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Bank (WB) state that worldwide access to sanitation has improved with countries in the north having 100% access to sanitation. However, only 64% of the world's population has access to improved sanitation. Sub-Saharan Africa has a noticeable improvement with South Africa improving from 73% in 2010 to 74% in 2014. They further estimate that $260 billion is lost globally each year due to lack of adequate water supply and sanitation. Universal access to water and sanitation would result in an estimated $32 billion in economic benefits per year globally from reductions in health care costs and increased productivity from reduced illness. Sub-Saharan Africa loses an estimated 4.3% ($US694 billion) of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) each year due to lack of adequate water supply and sanitation. Furthermore, the UNDP (2015) indicates that sanitation is one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), however many regions are performing poorly in attaining their declared sanitation targets. South African has not reached its target but it is maintaining its commitment to the provision of sanitation as a basic human right. However, it has left the responsibility to local government to work out how this should be done with no legislation. Currently there is no policy on sanitation and municipalities only develop by-laws that serve as guidelines in managing waste and providing the service.

The available literature on this subject speaks very little about the knowledge and understanding that the communities have with regard to faecal sludge management and no study at all deals with the perceptions of people on this issue, particularly around Polokwane Municipality. It is for these reasons that the study was aimed at investigating the perceptions of Polokwane residents regarding alternative faecal sludge management.

Methodologically the study used qualitative research approach where in face-to-face interviews and focus group interviews were conducted around Polokwane Municipality. Among the participants interviewed were Ward Councillors, Community Development Workers, Ward Committees and Traditional Authorities. These stakeholders were intentionally chosen as they are at the coalface of service delivery on a daily basis and they are part of the forums that interact with the Municipality on basic services and other related community matters. Data for this study were analysed using thematic data analysis approach. vi

 The findings of this study suggest that the “concerned residents” under Polokwane Municipality see themselves being victims and vulnerable to controllable health threats. In addition, the study discovered that the majority of participants were aware of the delegated sewage maintenance duties on the Polokwane Municipality. This study findings further indicated that there is a growing concern among municipal authorities and communities‟ especially in Africa and South Africa in particular, to improve the inadequate faecal management. The objectives of the study were among others to determine the perceptions and awareness of the Polokwane Local Municipality residents regarding alternative faecal sludge management methods. Indeed, it has been discovered that some of the residents are aware of various management methods but expect authority to develop policies and improve the inadequate methods that are currently used in managing faecal sludge. The study among others discovered that this study should be used as a point of reference for municipal projects administration, i.e. for the development of Integrated Development Plan (IDP) on the water and sanitation and faecal sludge management in future.

The Ministry of environmental health and management at Polokwane Local Municipality should organise solid and integrated awareness with the community to ensure a healthy environment for all.

The study further realised that there is a need to equip most of residents in Polokwane Local Municipality with knowledge on how best man can improve environmental health, as well as how worse can a person destroy the environment. It should be an important task for the Polokwane Local Municipality to ensure that residents understand the faecal sludge management enterprise developments in the area to reduce the incompleteness of the perceptions among the residents. Various faecal sludge methods should be adopted and encouraged among the Polokwane Local Municipality residents in order to promote the preference for the sanitation methods.

Key words: Sanitation, Faecal sludge, Faeces, Health hazards and Sub-Saharan Africa