Pit toilets in schools a constant worry for Limpopo parents

Waiting, waiting and more waiting. That is how most public schools in Limpopo province have spent the past years, waiting for the provincial department of education to demolish and replace dangerous and old pit toilets which continue to endanger the lives of learners daily.

1,400 public schools in Limpopo
continue to use plain pit toilets

But despite pleas from parents, learners themselves, civil society organisations, and court orders, the educational department in Limpopo is still far behind in its schedule to provide better and safe sanitation within public schools in the province. Equal Education’s head in Limpopo, Zanele Modise says that more than 1,400 public schools in Limpopo continue to use plain pit toilets. “EE continues to advocate for the delivery of appropriate sanitation to Limpopo schools, but it is unfortunately dependent on the political will and urgency of the education department to deliver their constitutional mandate.”

In the year 2021, the Limpopo Department of Education was ordered by the Limpopo High Court to replace all pit toilets at public schools in the province. The deadline was then set for 1 April 2023, which was later shifted to 1 April 2024. But still the department has not managed to adhere to the set-deadline despite the fact that they, according to a report by GroundUp, were ordered to provide the court with reports every six months on steps taken to eradicate pit toilets.

Modise says that after the education department failed to adhere to the deadlines, EE demanded urgent and immediate sanitation relief to all ‘priority 1 schools’. These are schools whose only source of sanitation is dangerous pit toilets. “True to character, the Limpopo education department has failed to meet yet another one of its deadlines and will likely unashamedly move the goalpost again. According to their June 2024 implementation report, it indicates that 37 of the identified 564 schools under priority 1 have yet to receive proper toilets, with construction still to be started in some,” says Modise.

The education department was ordered to replace pit toilets following a court case initiated by Michael Komape’s family, with the assistance of Section 27, a civil society organisation which advocates for human rights. In January 2014, Komape who was only 6 years old drowned inside a pit toilet at Mahlodumela Lower Primary School in Chebeng village, outside of Polokwane.

There are still over 3,900 schools in South Africa where illegal pit toilets are in use, according to Amnesty International.

Current situation in priority 1 schools

‘Those in power
don’t seem to care’

Mavis Munyai is a parent to a 7-year-old girl who is doing her grade 3 at Dzivhani Primary School, outside of Thohoyandou. Dzivhani is one of the ‘priority 1 schools’, which was supposed to have already been provided with new sanitation blocks, but they continue to wait. “In this day and age, I think it is so wrong that such young people are made to make use of dilapidated pit toilets at school, and no one seems to care from those in power. I know someone can say that most of these children use similar pit toilets at their homes, but that is different, because at home we are always there to monitor them but at school it is impossible for teachers to do that for every learner,” says Munyai.

Munyai told Elitsha that every day, when she sees her little daughter return from school safe and alive, she celebrates that she has managed to survive for that day. “To be honest, I get worried all the time when my daughter is at school, and I always encourage her to avoid using the school toilets, if possible, by telling her that she will use the toilet when she returns home from the school. Pit toilets are not safe to be used by young people unsupervised as they can easily fall inside and drown,” explains Munyai.

Some days she wishes that her child was a boy, instead of being a girl. “I feel like, for boys, it is much easier to advise them to refrain from using the pit toilets as they can easily urinate outside of the pit toilets and through that way, they will not be subjected to the use of the dangerous pit toilets,” says Munyai.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), toilets protect women’s and girls’ dignity, safety, and health either at work, home, or school, especially during menstruation and pregnancy.

A poster by Amnesty International using sanitised faeces collected from pit latrines across the country. Picture: Supplied

In March this year, some blocks of pit toilets at Dzivhani Primary School were demolished but construction of new toilets is yet to begin and no building materials have been supplied at the school. A single block of six pit toilets has been left and is currently being used by learners.

Rotshidzwa Maluga is a chairperson of the school governing body at Mabila Primary School, outside of Thohoyandou. The school continues to make use of pit toilets, while waiting for the education department to build them new sanitation blocks. Maluga says that they have grown tired of waiting for the education department to build them proper toilets. “The department does not care about the safety of our learners as it seems like they are waiting for an incident such as the one which claimed the life of Michael Komape for them to build us new toilets. We have been waiting for years but still nothing is happening,” says Maluga.

‘We do not have proper toilets;
we do not have water supply
and we also do not have proper classrooms’

Besides not having proper sanitation blocks, Mabila Primary also does not have any form of running water supply. “The situation at the school is very bad. We do not have proper toilets; we do not have water supply and we also do not have proper and adequate classrooms. The school has an enrolment of about 200 learners, but they are still forced to share four pit toilets,” says Maluga.

Pit toilets at Nkota Secondary School in Limpopo. Photo supplied

Gladys Marubini,* a female teacher stationed at one of the public schools in Vhembe says that it is a shame that in most schools, teachers have got better sanitation facilities compared to those being used by learners. “If you go around most of the schools, especially here in Vhembe, you will realise that teachers are using proper toilets compared to those which are being used by learners. If the government can build proper toilets for teachers, why can’t they do the same for learners. Something needs to be done urgently to address learners’ sanitation within public schools in Limpopo,” says Marubini.

Response by Limpopo education department

Mosebjane Kgaffe is the spokesperson for the education department in Limpopo. She says that the department is on the right track towards replacing pit toilets within public schools in the province. But she acknowledges that there are problems which they continue to face. “37 schools are outstanding. 29 are in construction and 8 are on tender for appointment of the contractors. The schools in the construction [phase] will be completed before the end of the second quarter. Schools on tender will be completed before the end of the financial year,” says Kgaffe. Some of the challenges she notes include business forums delaying the start of projects, non-performing service providers and budget cuts.