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Staff Reporter
THE Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the private sector are pushing hard to restore the dignity of education by delivering sanitation facilities to schools in rural communities.
The Eastern Cape MEC for Education, Fundile Gade, joined by provincial and national senior education officials, has received a donation of newly built sanitation facilities from the Sibanye Stillwater Mining Company, one of the DBE’s partners in the SAFE initiative.
MEC Gade officially handed over the sanitation facilities to seven identified primary schools at Marubeni Primary School in Libode on 10 August 2023. The additional six schools that have received sanitation facilities are Dininkosi, Dlukulwana, Candulwandle, Mqanduli, Vulincobo, and Ndintanka Primary Schools.
Sibanye Stillwater initiated the project as part of its social responsibility programme in response to the call from President Ramaphosa for support for the Sanitation Appropriate For Education (SAFE) initiative. Sibanye Stillwater is an international mining and metal processing player and has made tremendous contributions to education in South Africa. Given the scale of the budget and the prevailing economic climate, the Government invited the private sector to consider participating in the SAFE initiative as part of their corporate citizenship agenda.
During the handover ceremony, Deputy Director-General for Infrastructure at the DBE, David van der Westhuijzen, indicated that the Basic Education Sector had made strides in addressing infrastructure challenges in the country.
The SAFE Initiative has delivered 1,794 projects since its inception, with 1,034 in the Eastern Cape alone. Van der Westhuijzen pointed out that initially, provinces such as the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West had the bulk of pit latrines.
“Some of the backlogs of inappropriate sanitation structures have been addressed as part of the DBE’s Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Development Initiative (ASIDI), and some as part of the provincial infrastructure programme. Donor partners have contributed to 124 projects. The SAFE initiative demonstrates that the government responds to national crises and can summon the combined effort of its corporate citizens in addressing issues of national importance and dignity.”
Gade indicated that the private sector’s contribution to improving school infrastructure facilities will go a long way in transforming the education landscape in South Africa.
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