uThukela Municipality denies R15m toilet project fraud claims

Residents allege the funds were used to construct 15 toilets for a single household in a rural area in uMnambithi.  

Photos on social media that show the toilets lined up on the property of a home sparked an outcry.

Mayor Inkosi Shabalala's denied there had been a construction blunder, saying 60 toilets were built to be distributed to families on two farms with access issues.

"Each farm has got induna Khumalo. The other farm has got induna uGamede and other family members.  So, the nature of these farms is very bad, too rocky. 

“It's not easy to dig the hole for the toilet such that even themselves, they do not have toilets. They are using the mountain to relieve themselves.

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" So the toilets that were built, it was agreed by the community members that since their land is not diggable, so they looked at some land which is diggable.”

Shabalala says applications for the toilets were made by families who lived on one plot.

"Each family has got its own household, but in one yard, so the toilet was made in accordance with the number of beneficiaries who have applied.

“Actually, those toilets have been applied for since 2018, so when they were given these toilets, they were given according to their names, not that it was for one family.”