OF late much controversy has raged about open toilets, which takes me back eighty years ago when I was a small boy.
In those days people’s toilets were enclosed bins which were collected weekly and replaced with empty ones.
In the middle of the night we were awakened by the noises of the horses, the wagons and the workers. And often quite a mess was left behind.
In the absence of water-closets, some people had their own cesspit privies - a hole dug in the ground with a seat placed on top of it and then covered with a “hokkie”.
A new toilet is made simply by digging another hole, closing the old one with the new soil and placing the seat and hokkie on top of it.
I remember an incident on the platteland where a woman actually fell into the hole of the toilet when the seat broke. Her next door neighbour came to her assistance from her messy circumstances.
It is therefore a shame that in a civilised society authorities still have the temerity to ignore one of the most personal privacies of people.
TPA Carolissen
