Northern Cape Premier Zamani Saul.

• Social media posts by Premier Zamani Saul this week led to questions about the amount of money the province planned to spend on flushing toilets in Campbell.
• But the Siyancuma municipality municipal manager has clarified that the R120-million budget the premier mentioned was for the province’s entire project to eradicate pit latrines and buckets.
• The project is epected to take place in three phases.

The Northern Cape government is not spending R120 million on flushing toilets in Campbell, Siyancuma municipality municipal manager Xolile Geco has clarified.

He was commenting on Premier Zamani Saul’s announcement on X and Facebook on Monday that his government was in Campbell to announce a project to eradicate buckets and pit latrines and replace them with flushing toilets at a cost of R120 million.

The posts caused an uproar, with people questioning how a flushing toilet could cost more than R200 000.

However, in an interview with News24, Geco explained that the R120 million was the budget for the entire project, which will be carried out in three phases.

Geco told News24:

The toilets are the last phase in the project, he said, as he outlined the following phases:

• Phase 1 – to construct bulk sewer and waterborne sanitation;
• Phase 2 – to upgrade bulk water or augmentation to supply current and future demand; and
• Phase 3 – to construct both water and sanitation reticulation and also install toilets.

“I do not know where the 200K comes from because it is not only the bucket eradication… you also need to ensure that there is enough water so when you do the bulk water augmentation, it is going to have its price because we need to increase the capacity, [we need to] ensure there is enough storage and to expropriate some boreholes to ensure that there will be enough water to flush. So, it’s a phase-out project that the premier launched. The information of 200K per toilet, I do not know where you are getting it from. I do not know,” he said.

READ | R20bn and 13 years later, SA schools still struggle with ‘death trap’ pit latrines

Speaking at a Siyancuma municipality service delivery programme on Monday, Saul announced that government was working to eradicate bucket toilets and pit latrines. He said 560 flush latrines needed to be built. But first, they need a wastewater treatment system. The first phase is building the infrastructure, which begins in January. “That project will cost us R35 million,” he said.

He added: “The municipality is almost done appointing the contractor of that project.

Saul also said that the municipality needed to build bulk water infrastructure the following year.

“We have had to do this in a proper way,” he said.

The third phase, according to Saul, is the reticulation and building of the toilets. That will cost R40 million, he said.