The enduring shame of bucket toilets in South Africa

IN 1994, millions of South Africans queued for hours, not just to vote, but to reclaim their humanity and dignity.

- 

They believed that the chains of apartheid would be shattered forever, replaced by a government rooted in human rights and service to the people. Thirty years later, that dream lies in tatters. The most humiliating and undeniable evidence of this betrayal is the continued use of bucket toilets across the country — a shameful symbol of failure, corruption and indifference.

The recently tabled BEP (Bucket Eradication Programme) Portfolio Committee Report for June 2025 is not just a government document - it is a confession. It lays bare the ANC-led government's inability to fulfill even the most basic promise of dignity: access to decent sanitation.

More than a decade after its launch, thousands of our people still relieve themselves in buckets, and in many areas, there is not even a timeline for final completion.

In 2012, the government officially identified over 52 000 bucket toilets in formal settlements. In 2025, we are told that thousands still remain - and this does not even count the countless new buckets emerging in informal settlements. Despite endless budget allocations and PR statements, the humiliating reality persists: poor, Black South Africans are still forced to live like second-class citizens.