The march left from Wits University, Braamfontein campus at 11am, and ended at the Gauteng Department of Education head offices on Commissioner Street.
More than 2000 pupils, parents and members of EE joined the march and made their way to the department to hand over their memorandum to Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi.
The MEC was present during the march and received the memorandum.
The march was planned after members of the organisation conducted a study in 11 schools in Tembisa, between 26 August and 6 September last year. The study found that 90 percent of the schools had inadequate infrastructure or had a dysfunctional sanitation system. This meant that pupils sometimes had no access to toilets for days on end.
According to their pre-march statement, the organisation claimed the sanitation crisis at schools in Tembisa had continued unabated, despite the MEC’s July promise to fix all school toilets in Gauteng by 31 August.
After a 100 days in office, the group found that the MEC had failed to deliver on promises he had made.
Lesufi’s office released a media statement on 9 September, stating his interest in Tembisa.
“A decision was taken to do an overhaul in 50 schools in the area [Tembisa] with an estimated budget of R15 million. To date, construction in 20 of these schools has been completed and we are expecting construction to be completed in the remaining schools by the end of this week,” it read.
In another statement released on 11 September, marking his achievements in 100 days, Lesufi said, “I have since appointed dedicated project teams whose sole focus is on sanitation at schools and their deadlines are non-negotiable.”
