What is a free basic sanitation and who gets it?

Free Basic Sanitation refers to the provision of basic sanitation service to the poor without them making contribution in cash or kind. However, this excludes certain 'on site' components of the facility such as:
1. the day to day operating costs of the on-site component of the service.
2. on-site water pipe work and flushing systems are fully functiona and that water used beyond the limit set for free basic water is paid for
3. Operations and maintenance ( repairs to pits, tanks, pipes, pedestals, flushing mechanisms and buildings in which the toilet is housed). However, an exception may be made with regard to sludge or compost handling.

The Free Basic Sanitation strategy is aimed at ensuring that the sanitation backlog is eradicated and ensuring the government meets the 2014 targets for all people to have access to a functional sanitation facility.

The Strategic Framework for Water Services includes the following definitions of basic sanitation:

A basic sanitation facility is a sanitation facility which is safe, reliable, private, protected from the weather, ventilated, keeps smells to the minimum, is easy to keep clean and minimises the risk of the spread of sanitation related diseases by facilitating the appropriate control of disease carrying flies and pests, and enables safe appropriate treatment and/or removal of human waste and black or grey water in a sound environmentally sound manner.

A basic sanitation service is the provision of a basic sanitation facility which is easily accessible to members of a household, has the necessary operational support for the sage removal of human waste and black and/or grey water from the premises where this is appropriate and necessary , and promotes the communication of good sanitation, hygiene and related practices.

Why 2014 target

The Department of Water Affairs has acknowledged that given the challenges facing the Water Service Authorities the household sanitation targets of the Water Services Strategic Framework may not be met by 2010. In lieu of this, a revised target has been set for 2014. The 2014 target is inline with the Department of Housing target that all South Africans should have access to a house by 2014.

Who qualifies for a free basic sanitation?

The primary intended recipients of the free basic sanitation are poor households. Although there is a broader poliicy commitment to the extension of free basic services to all households the policy is largely aimed at poor households for whom free basic services represents a dignificant poverty alleviation measure.