- Families in McCarthy informal settlement share filthy toilets, fetch water from one tap and say ambulances can’t reach them.
- The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality says upgrades are planned for 2025, but residents say they’ve waited too long for change.
Hundreds of people living in McCarthy informal settlement in Kariega say they are trapped in filthy and unsafe conditions.
They have no clean water, no proper toilets and no safe roads. Six families share a single portable toilet, which is rarely cleaned. There is only one working tap for about 300 residents, and it stands 200 metres away.
Priscilla Mahlahla said: “We need the municipality to fix the roads here, we need proper toilets and electricity. Last year, a child was electrocuted because of illegal connections. We live like animals here.”
The roads are so badly damaged that ambulances and undertakers can’t get in. One family said they had to carry a dead body to the entrance of the settlement so undertakers could collect it.
Disabled resident Alwyn Plaatjies said his shack is always wet because it stands next to a leaking pipe. In rainy weather, the ground turns to mud, making it impossible for him to move around.
Residents also fear crime, saying criminals break into their homes at all hours and police patrols are nowhere to be seen.
Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya said McCarthy has been included in the 2025/26 plan to receive communal toilets, taps and electricity. But Ward 48 councillor Franay van der Linde said she has reported the problems many times with no response.
Pictured above: A resident fetching water at the communal tap in McCarthy informal settlement, Kariega.
Image source: Supplied
