Mine faces faecal crisis

RELIEF is in sight for residents of the Sand Hotel informal settlement at Rosh Pinah who have been barred from using the settlement’s flush toilets since last week.

All three toilets have been locked and the 7 300 residents have taken to answering nature’s call elsewhere. Rosh Pinah this week received the first lot of 20 ‘Enviro Loos’ which are being installed as part of a pilot project.”These toilets are specially designed to withstand abuse and are very ecologically friendly,” said Garbers.The same toilets are reportedly in use by the City of Windhoek.”We had to lock the three flush toilets,” Rosh Pinah’s mine manager Deon Garbers told The Namibian yesterday.”The toilets became completely impractical.People were chucking all sorts of things into them, damaging them and stealing the lids and water tanks.It became unrealistic to maintain them.”According to eye witnesses, hygiene in the settlement has been a problem for some time.”The settlement is in an appalling state,” a reporter from the NBC, who visited the settlement last week, told The Namibian.”People are doing their business anywhere, behind sand heaps and among the shacks.”Garbers admits that conditions are far from ideal.”We’ve had an incredible influx of people into the Sand Hotel settlement,” he said.”The population grew from 4 000 last year to the current figure of well over 7 000.We are working very hard to cope with this.We’re installing more water points and our rubbish removal system is coming along well.”The influx of settlers is partly due to the N$327 million tarring of the Rosh Pinah Road, which has brought many contractors and their families to the area.”We are working with Government on a huge resettlement programme.An area has already been identified and an environmental impact study has been done,” added Garbers.Asked whether he thought 20 toilets were enough for the number of people living in the settlement, Garbers pointed out that the 20 toilets being installed were part of “phase one” to determine their effectiveness before more such toilets are installed.Few workers at the Rosh Pinah mine lived in the settlement, said Garbers.”We have good hostels.But their families are mostly living there.”The Scorpion mine is also involved in the upgrading of the settlement, said Garbers.”Many domestic workers from Scorpion are living with their families in the Sand Hotel.”Rosh Pinah this week received the first lot of 20 ‘Enviro Loos’ which are being installed as part of a pilot project.”These toilets are specially designed to withstand abuse and are very ecologically friendly,” said Garbers.The same toilets are reportedly in use by the City of Windhoek.”We had to lock the three flush toilets,” Rosh Pinah’s mine manager Deon Garbers told The Namibian yesterday.”The toilets became completely impractical.People were chucking all sorts of things into them, damaging them and stealing the lids and water tanks.It became unrealistic to maintain them.”According to eye witnesses, hygiene in the settlement has been a problem for some time.”The settlement is in an appalling state,” a reporter from the NBC, who visited the settlement last week, told The Namibian.”People are doing their business anywhere, behind sand heaps and among the shacks.”Garbers admits that conditions are far from ideal.”We’ve had an incredible influx of people into the Sand Hotel settlement,” he said.”The population grew from 4 000 last year to the current figure of well over 7 000.We are working very hard to cope with this.We’re installing more water points and our rubbish removal system is coming along well.”The influx of settlers is partly due to the N$327 million tarring of the Rosh Pinah Road, which has brought many contractors and their families to the area.”We are working with Government on a huge resettlement programme.An area has already been identified and an environmental impact study has been done,” added Garbers.Asked whether he thought 20 toilets were enough for the number of people living in the settlement, Garbers pointed out that the 20 toilets being installed were part of “phase one” to determine their effectiveness before more such toilets are installed.Few workers at the Rosh Pinah mine lived in the settlement, said Garbers.”We have good hostels.But their families are mostly living there.”The Scorpion mine is also involved in the upgrading of the settlement, said Garbers.”Many domestic workers from Scorpion are living with their families in the Sand Hotel.”