Township life at Duncan Village in East London

Duncan Village, a low socio-economic urban settlement in East London,. South Africa.

Like many townships in South Africa, Duncan Village in East London has suffered major service delivery backlogs owing to many years of neglect.

Local authorities have had to face the challenge of meeting growing demands for the delivery of affordable, good quality and widely accessible services, while having to cope with simultaneous cuts in fiscal transfers from national government. As a result, a common perception among the public, particularly towards government management and administration, is that the municipality is too steeped in useless politicking which hampers delivering services in an affordable, reliable and efficient manner.

In a recent survey conducted by the Amatole District Civil Society Support Programme (CSSP), a project funded by DED (the German Development Agency) and spearheaded by the Eastern Cape NGO Coalition assisted by Afesis-corplan, it was discovered that there are 29 blocks of toilets in Duncan Village serving approximately 58 000 people. This means 2 000 people have to share one block of six toilets or put another way, 333 people need to use one toilet.

Furthermore, the survey revealed that the appalling condition of public amenities in Duncan Village has greatly contributed towards the continued use of the bucket system as it is easier to maintain. The condition of the toilet blocks is extremely hazardous in terms of security, health and hygiene.

Despite being in power for 20 odd years, service delivery is grinding to a halt, corruption is at an all time high and even the government, read ANC oversight communities on corruption are incapable of providing real and meaningful services to these people.

The previous government is still held to be responsible for all the ills in South Africa, but the ANC and the governing elite conveniently ignore their bad management, false promises and their ever increasing waist lines.