Whenever toilets are built for residents, politicians speak of how this restores people's dignity.
However, in one Buffalo City Metro ward its councillor has two ventilated improved pit (VIP) toilets while his neighbours, an elderly couple about 300 metres away, have none.
One of the toilets in ward 50 councillor Thobile Mtya's village home in Kwelera's Jongilanga village was built by the Amathole district municipality before municipal boundaries shifted a few years ago. The second was built recently by BCM. A stone's throw away, the toilet of Lennox Kondile and his wife Nolime, built by the infamous Siyenza Group, collapsed some years ago.
Speaking to the Dispatch, Mtya confirmed the two toilets at his home but said they were in two different sites within his yard.
“Those who are telling you this are people who are fighting with me, they are trying to find anything that would tarnish my name,” he said.
Mtya said the first toilet was built by the Great Kei municipality under the ADM's Siyenza sanitation project.
“As you will understand the Siyenza toilet scandal, many toilets were done by hand and they have failed.
“But BCM is now building toilets for people in this ward and as a resident we benefited. Also, BCM is using an excavator. These are proper toilets.”
Kondile said her dream was to have a proper toilet.
“I know there are two toilets at the councillor’s home but I am more interested in getting one toilet for myself. Where is dignity if you have to go into someone's house and ask to use their toilet?”
Community activist Sipho Katana said the two toilets at Mtya's home were in the same yard.
“If these are two sites, why are the toilets next to each other in one yard? Why is the same councillor using his son to build the same toilets for the community? We need answers on this. We cannot fold arms when residents like Kondile sometimes have to use the bush to relieve themselves,” said Katana.
Katana said Mtya acts like a king who has “absolute powers”.
“He is not a king. He needs to report to people any development that is happening in this community and he must know that he is serving the entire ward 50, not only those who are close to him,” said Katana.
In Nokhala village, Vuyiseka Hlope, said her family was still without a toilet.
“You ask that councillor, he knows my story. We have been struggling to get a toilet from this administration and yet empty houses which are abandoned by their owners have got new toilets,” said Hlophe.
When a Daily Dispatch team visited the villages on Monday, they noticed that some houses were empty while others were falling apart but they had newly built toilets.
Responding to allegations that his son had benefited from the BCM tender project, Mtya said: “These toilet slabs had to be distributed to sites and the person who was doing this complained about his bakkie. The solution was to use my son's bakkie, that has been declared.
“The people who are complaining to you are those who have voted for the DA, I know. They are coming up with these unfounded complaints and accusations saying I've also taken money.”
Mtya vowed to take legal action against those he said were defaming him.
“I have no choice but to take this route. They must provide proof that I've taken their funds.”
On Monday, a group of community leaders complained about Mtya to co-operative governance & traditional affairs MEC Xolile Nqatha.
In their letter they ask Nqatha to urgently intervene “on matters relating to Kwelera's governance and management by the local councillor in charge of ward 50”.
Nqatha's spokesperson, Makhaya Komisa, confirmed receipt of the letter.
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