House Chair, hon Minister yesterday was an International Toilet Day, the challenges of poor sanitation are one that extends beyond just informal settlements. The challenge of poor sanitation extends even to our schools, particularly the schools in Limpopo. What interventions has your department taken together with other intergovernmental departments, to ensure that our children are able to relieve themselves with dignity? Thank you Minister.
The MINISTER OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS, WATER AND SANITATION: Indeed,
hon member the matter of toilet is a matter of dignity and the fact that we don't have sufficient facilities for our people is an indictment to us as a society. We are working on innovative methods, because putting up the necessary infrastructure that has been lagging behind since we took over as government is going to
take a long time. We are now looking into other possibilities of putting up the kind of toilets that do not need water, what we call dry sanitation.
Just last week we had the pleasure to be given an award of R75 million by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and we extremely grateful for that. What they have brought with them was an exhibition of what is possible around the world in innovation of ensuring that we can provide our people with dry sanitation, where it is in the rural areas. We are looking into that, we are going to use the money that has been donated to us to put up the new technology that doesn't require water, to ensure that we provide dignity. We will invite you to come and see this, it is indeed very revolutionary, and it works in many ways that I can go on about.