Sunday Tribune: Rats plague community

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Rats plague community

August 03, 2008 Edition 3

Rat poison was put down at the Kennedy Road informal settlement this week by health authorities, but residents are not expecting the rat plague to end.

Residents say the eThekwini health department had used poison previously but nothing had changed, and rats were now bigger and meaner.

The settlement was in the news recently after two-month-old Wandile Cikwayo’s hand was gnawed by a rat. He is in a critical condition in Addington Hospital. Earlier this year a 4-month-old baby was bitten on the head by a rat. He later died from his wounds as his parents did not have money to take him to hospital and were waiting for the Clare Estate Clinic to open on the Monday.

Sick

Wandile Cikwayo’s mother, Nonhlanhla, is upset as her baby is “very sick in hospital”.

“His hand is swollen and looks green. He cries all the time and vomits even though he is not taking in anything,” said a distraught Cikwayo.

She said that she was not sleeping in her own room as she feared the same rat would attack her. “They (the municipality) were putting down poison for the rats but on the same day I saw a rat. Nothing is going to change.”

Dr Ayo Olowolagba, head of the council’s Communicable Disease Control unit, said they were looking at long-term sustainable solutions to eradicating the rat plague as it posed serious health risks.

“Placing the rat poison is a once-off thing. We are going to do a large-scale clean-up as informal settlements are notorious for conditions in which rats breed,” said Olowolagba.

Olowolagba said various departments of the municipality were involved in dealing with the problem.

“The housing department, vector control department, Durban Solid Waste, community mobilisation, we are all working together.”

S’bu Zikode, president of the shack dwellers movement (Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement), said the rat infestation was not an isolated issue. He said if the core issues were not dealt with “there will continue to be shack fires, rats and spreading of diseases”.

Rubbish

Zikode said large piles of refuse were scattered throughout the camp as Durban Solid Waste collects rubbish only along the main road.

“People use the refuse bags that are provided. The problem is, no one collects the dirt. This area is steep and it would be impossible for residents to carry their filled refuse bags such a distance,” said Zikode.

He said, “People have this misconception that because we live in shacks we are dirty, lazy and need education. Build the necessary infrastructure, and if the problems persist then blame us.”

An issue he raised was that there were only 12 toilets for 9 000 residents. The other 106 toilets that were built earlier were last drained in 2005 and are now locked.

Zikode said the toilets are locked for health reasons as children play around them.

“People have resorted to using the bushes, or building homemade toilets that are really just a shallow hole surrounded by planks,” he said.

Couglan Pather, head of the housing department, said they were looking at the feasibility of building on a portion of the site at Kennedy Road.

“We cannot build on the entire site and some people would have to be relocated. We are also looking at another site close to Kennedy Road but are awaiting approval from the provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and the Department of Water and Forestry,” said Pather.

Councillor Yacoob Baig agreed that there is a large-scale health problem at the settlement. He said possible reasons could be the close proximity of the settlement to the landfill site as well as litter that is always lying around.

“We have embarked on a campaign with the health department to deal with the problem,” said Baig.

Olowolagba said since there was no access for vehicles to the informal settlement, collecting rubbish would be a problem.

“We are looking at contracting members of the community to collect and transport rubbish to accessible points where DSW can collect it.”

Zikode said they had raised these health concerns with council for many years but have had no response.

“Only now that a baby has died and another is in a serious condition is something being done. We are being denied our basic human rights,” said Zikode.

Neeri Govender, Public Relations Officer of Durban Solid Waste, said the mismanagement of waste was one of the causes of rat infestation.

She appealed to individuals to take responsibility for their environment and use the resources provided to dispose their waste.

“In the short term DSW is looking at a major clean up. In the long term we are looking at strategies to ensure that rubbish piles are not scattered throughout the settlement and the same health issues do not arise after the clean up.”