A large number of populations staying in informal settlements towards the fag end of apartheid South Africa did not had access to adequate and safe sanitation. The interim constitution of the apartheid-free new South Africa commits that every person shall have the right to an environment, which is not detrimental to his or her health or well-being. This commitment paved the way for provision of adequate and safe sanitation to all citizens. In order to understand the perception of sanitation in urban township informal settlements on a limited scale, a field study was conducted for Umlazi; a large formal township situated south of Durban and has many informal settlements within. The work comprised of questionnaire design, sample selection and administration of questionnaire during fieldwork, data capture and analysis. 86% of the respondents owned pit-type latrines, a widely used sanitation system in informal settlements. 80% of the respondents complained about strong faecal odour coming out from the latrine making the surroundings offensive. All respondents were very concerned about the safety of children while allowing them to use this type of latrines and 92% complained about inaccessibility during night times. Approximately 50% of the respondents were aware regarding the adverse impact on the environment caused by this type of latrines. However, majority of the respondents were not in a position to invest ZAR 120 (approximately INR 720) so as to have a proper pit-type latrines. 98% of respondents were against the idea of having latrine as a community-shared facility. The communities of the informal settlements strongly believe that sanitation is the responsibility of the government.
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