International interest in SA’s local polls

By Lelethu Mquqo
17 May 2011

South Africa’s local government elections, especially the open toilet saga, are making international headlines.

Britain’s influential The Guardian wants to know in an article why South Africa is still providing what it calls “apartheid toilets”.

The journalist asks how a nation that can build five-star hotels and airports and host a successful Soccer World Cup still fail to provide decent sanitation.

African democracy institute Idasa’s Judith February told the paper there was nothing more powerful than the image of a woman sitting on a toilet without an enclosure.

Meanwhile, National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele has revealed that KwaZulu-Natal police are searching for a man accused of sending a hit man to kill a Durban ANC candidate.

The target was the party’s candidate in Newlands East.

Cele says the attacker was sent from Johannesburg.

According to the Commissioner, the hit man wounded himself in a scuffle with his intended victim before being arrested.