It’s musical chairs in the toilet death blame game

The education department has shifted blame for poor infrastructure in schools onto the finance, and water and sanitation departments, following the death of five-year-old Viwe Jali, who tragically died after falling into a pit toilet at school.

The department’s comments come after Education Minister Angie Motshekga told media this week they were doing their best to deal with what is a “sectoral problem”.

Following Viwe’s death, which comes just three years after little Michael Komape died in the same way, President Cyril Ramaphosa instructed Motshekga to conduct an infrastructure audit at all schools.

Viwe Jali died at her school in Bizana, Eastern Cape, while little Michael died at his school in Chebeng village, Limpopo.

Motshekga said the audit was a collective effort of relevant people including various MECs, department heads and other relevant officials responsible for infrastructure from all provinces.

However, department spokesperson Elijah Mahlangu blamed the department of water and sanitation for not having provided services to the area.

“Don’t expect the department of education or the minister of education to solve water and sanitation problems if the department of water and sanitation has not brought such services [to] the area,” he said.

“If the community does not have running water, then you cannot expect the school to have running water,” Mahlangu said.

“It hurts when people blame you for electricity which Eskom was supposed to provide and hasn’t provided in the school.”

Water and sanitation spokesperson Sputnik Ratau called Mahlangu’s comments “problematic”. He said the issue of infrastructure at schools remained the department of education’s responsibility.

“And the pit toilet for example, is not an issue of whether there was water or not, it is an issue of the kind of infrastructure that has been provided…

“But ultimately, we will all have to work together, and [it is] not about pointing fingers at each other because we are talking about the lives of children,” said Ratau.

Mahlangu took further jabs at the finance department for lack of funding.

– news@citizen.co.za

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