Access to public toilets in the city centre can prove a difficult task, and to address this challenge the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) recently launched a pilot public toilet project.
Tasso Evangelinos, Chief Executive Officer for CCID, says the aim is to alleviate the “chronic shortage” of public ablution facilities in the inner city.
Evangelinos says: “We have found that public toilets in the Cape Town CBD are few and far between, and the well-known ones, including those on Greenmarket and Thibault Square, are only open during normal working hours. And while some visitors can get relief in bars and restaurants, other people don’t have access to these venues, including the CBD’s homeless community.”
He says they also hope that by adding to the existing infrastructure, the resources used by their urban management department to clean unsightly areas in town can be utilized elsewhere.
He explains that the project started in May and will run for four months.
According to Evangelinos, there are four toilets in total based on the corner of Adderley and Darling streets and two separate toilets in the CBD’s East City in Longmarket Street.
“We want to test the waters and draw lessons that will inform future programmes as the CBD moves towards a 24-hour economy. The chosen sites represent gaps in the location of existing public toilet infrastructure and opportunities to meet predicted future demand. We hope to achieve a vision of safe, accessible, clean and environmentally sustainable public toilets for all to use.”
He explains that the facilities are free to use for anyone and are open every day, Monday to Sunday, from 07:00 to 23:00.
He says safety measures have been put in place to safeguard the sites. “CCID Safety and Security teams monitor both sites to ensure they are safe to use, and they are cleaned and sanitised each time they are used.”
Evangelinos explains that they have partnered with organisations who support people living on the street.
“We are collaborating with two of our NGO partners – Khulisa Social Solutions and Straatwerk. They provide trained workers who manage and clean the toilets while earning a stipend. The staffers also collect data on the number of users and carry hand sanitiser.”
He adds: “This is a job-creating opportunity that ties in with the CCID’s ongoing social projects and efforts with its NGO partners to find sustainable and creative solutions to address the plight of the homeless in the CBD.”
