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EDWIN NAIDU
ALMOST three decades after democracy, South Africa prepares to celebrate Human Rights Day on 21 March. But the death of another child, who allegedly fell in a pit latrine in the Eastern Cape last week, has highlighted the failure of the government to provide adequate sanitation for learners.
The four-year-old child was found dead in the pit latrine toilet in a primary school in Glen Grey on Tuesday.
The Eastern Cape Education department claimed in a media report that the child had used a toilet not meant for her age group.
While it raises questions over the supervision of minors at schools, the tragedy brought into sharp focus the actions of the Department of Basic Education in eradicating pit latrine toilets at schools.
In 2013, legislation was passed compelling government departments to ensure that by November 2016, all schools have access to water, sanitation and electricity; all pit latrines were replaced with safe and adequate sanitation; and schools built from mud and asbestos were replaced.
But two separate studies published by Amnesty International – the first released in 2020 and the second in 2021 – reveal that the government has failed to meet these targets. Reports of children falling into pit latrines with fatal consequences have been published nationwide since the publication of these reports.
The 2021 report, entitled Broken and Unequal The State of Education in South Africa, describes the country’s education system as one of the most unequal school systems in the world.
However, the death of another learner in a pit latrine brings to the fore the issue of infrastructure provision and the failure of the Department of Basic Education to tackle this challenge for the past decade.
In 2018, according to government statistics, the number of schools with pit latrines was 3 898, broken down as follows: 1 598 in the Eastern Cape, 156 in the Free State, 1365 in KwaZulu-Natal, 507 in Limpopo, 127 in Mpumalanga, 145 in the North West with zero in Gauteng, Northern Cape and Western Cape.
According to the statistics for 2018, out of 23,471 public schools, 19% had illegal pit latrines for sanitation, with another 37 schools had no sanitation facilities at all; 86% had no laboratory, 77% had no library, 72% had no internet access, and 42% had no sports facilities. Two hundred thirty-nine schools lacked any electricity.
The Amnesty International Report says these shortcomings breach the government’s international human rights obligations and its Minimum Norms and Standards for educational facilities.
As the government continues to miss its upgrading targets, Amnesty International’s research in Gauteng and Eastern Cape found numerous examples of schools with poor infrastructure and lacking basic facilities.
These issues impact the enjoyment of the right to education and pupils’ other rights, such as water, sanitation, privacy and dignity, as highlighted by their testimonies.
One of the critical infrastructure issues is poor sanitation which impacts a range of rights, including Education, water and sanitation, health, privacy and dignity. Amnesty International researchers found numerous examples of poorly maintained, broken or unsanitary toilets, including pit latrines.
Even though a critical requirement of the 2013 Minimum Norms and Standards is, that plain pit latrines are eradicated.
By the beginning of 2019, nearly 4,000 schools were still using pit latrines, 117 of which were single pits covered with a wooden or concrete slab with a drop hole with a structure around it for shelter and privacy. These largely continue in schools serving poorer black communities in rural areas, particularly in the Eastern Cape and KZN.
Despite some limited improvements, the infrastructure condition in many schools still needs to improve, and delays in infrastructure improvements remain a significant obstacle to realising the right to education for millions of learners.
Beyond the survey data, issues of particular concern that Amnesty International witnessed or was told about during field research included: dangerous sanitation infrastructure, continued use of pit toilets, lack of sufficient toilets for the number of pupils in line with the learner-to-toilet ratio of the Minimum Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure of 1:30.
Additionally, the lack of adequate sanitation can cause embarrassment and shame among pupils impacting their rights to privacy and dignity: many toilet cubicles without locks, and 9% of the pit latrines did not have pit covers, allowing pests to infiltrate and spread contamination, only 18% of the pupils consulted thought the toilets were sufficiently private; and only 35% of schools had basins for handwashing, and only half of the basins were functioning.
Most seriously, pit latrines have caused the death of learners. Following two recent tragic cases of Michael Komape and Lumka Mketwa, who fell into and drowned in dilapidated school pit toilets President Ramaphosa in March 2018, ordered the Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga to conduct a full audit of school facilities with unsafe structures, including sanitation within one month and to present a plan within three months to rectify the challenges as an interim emergency measure before rolling out proper infrastructure.
In December 2019, the Appeals Court awarded Michael Komape’s family R1 million in damages to be paid by the DBE for emotional shock.
In another case before the Limpopo High Court in Polokwane, the Limpopo Education Department indicated that, as of July 2018, 1,658 schools had sanitation needs, with 1,489 of them having pit toilets on site, comprising 17,144 seats. The Limpopo Education Department added that, with its current budget, it would take an estimated 14 years to replace all pit toilets in the province’s public schools.
The government’s evidence shows that it continues to fail to meet the 2013 targets, with thousands of schools still impacted. According to the DBE’s own National Education Infrastructure Management System (NEIMS) report published in January 2018, there were still 37 schools lacking any sanitation facilities.
Despite the 2013 Minimum Norms and Standards requiring that plain pit latrines are eradicated, they continue to be widespread. Indeed, the NEIMS January 2018 report stated that up to 8,702 out of a total of 23,471 (37%), schools were still using them.
In April 2018, the DBE itself confirmed that there were 3,532 pit toilets in schools across the country, and about R7.8 billion (US$ 542 million) was needed to address the sanitation backlog.252
A subsequent audit put the figure at 3,898 for schools where pit toilets were the only form of sanitation and another 3,040 where they remained alongside other forms of sanitation.
In another interview, according to the Amnesty International report, the DBE Minister stated: “We have to re-prioritize the infrastructure budget of R7 billion (US$ 487 million) per annum to deal with sanitation problems. For instance, Limpopo province alone needs about R3 billion (US$ 209 million) to deal with sanitation problems. However, our infrastructure budget has been cut by R3.5 billion (US$ 243 million).”
Asked to comment on the pit latrine death of the pupil in the Eastern Cape, DBE spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said Minister Motshekga would be hosting a media conference on Tuesday to address a range of issues around school infrastructure.
INSIDE EDUCATION