Government spends almost R5m on nine pit latrines

A school in the Eastern Cape is asking questions after the government allegedly spent R4.8 million on just nine pit latrines, which were not even completed, and are believed to be posing a danger to the school’s children due to holes being left open, City Press reports.

Myolwa Senior Primary in Lusikisiki, meanwhile, is only half built, with many pupils reportedly being forced to learn underneath trees.

According to the publication, officials were sent to the school in an attempt to find out why the amount government spent on the toilets was so high, at which point the school’s chairperson first found out how much the toilets were meant to have cost.

Provincial education spokesperson Loyiso Pulumani denied that lessons had taken place under trees. He also said 23 toilets would be built in total, and the building of the remaining toilets had been delayed.

Read the full story in today’s City Press.

ALSO READ: Stop going to court, rather fix schools’ pit toilets – Equal Education

The death of five-year-old Lumka Mkhethwa from drowning inside a pit latrine in a rural Eastern Cape school in March, 2018, sparked a national outcry over the lack of sanitation at public schools.

Four years ago, another five-year-old Michael Komape died in a pit latrine at his Limpopo school.

Such tragic deaths have led civil society organisations campaigning for adequate sanitation at schools across the country, in particular, those located in rural areas, with President Cyril Ramaphosa in August launching a public-private initiative to provide safe toilets for nearly 4,000 mostly rural and township schools.

Newly appointed Finance Minister Tito Mboweni declared the government was committed to eradicating pit latrines at all schools across the country.

Delivering his maiden speech as finance minister on Wednesday during the mid-term budget policy statement, Mboweni said Ramaphosa has directed that there should be a plan in place to ensure that all schools have safe and appropriate sanitation.

“Nobody should learn in a school that is unsafe. Our children must have access to adequate sanitation,” the finance minister said.

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman. Additional reporting by Makhosandile Zulu)

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.