Pit latrine drownings are harsh indictment of Ramaphosa

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Nearly five years ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa launched a R6.8bn Sanitation Appropriate for Education (SAFE) programme. 

SAFE is a public-private initiative that targets schools where sanitation is inadequate or unsafe for use.  

According to the Department of Basic Education’s audit, about 3 898 schools across the country were reported to have inappropriate sanitation. From this, it was found that about 70% of rural schools still use pit toilets, and Kwa-Zulu Natal, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape were identified as top provinces where pupils are subjected to inappropriate sanitation. 

The SAFE initiative came as a national cry for unsafe sanitation to be abolished in schools after a five-year-old, Michael Komape, fell into a pit toilet and drowned at the Mahlodumela Primary School in Limpopo province. 

This was not the first victim of such a tragedy in an environment where they are supposed to feel safe and protected. 

Komape’s death was followed by the death of seven-year-old Lister Magongwa, whose body was found in a toilet after the walls of a dilapidated pit toilet collapsed on him at Mmushi Primary School located in the same province. 

In 2017 Siyamthanda Mtunu, aged six, and in 2018 Lumka Mkweta, aged five, drowned in pit toilets in the Eastern Cape. In the same year, five-year-old Viwe Jali was found lifeless in a pit latrine at Luna Primary School in Bizana. 

Most recently, a four-year-old Langalam Viki fell in a pit toilet at a school in Vaalbank in the Eastern Cape and died. 

These statistics are only from what is published and known in the news and media. Neither the national or provincial education governments have released statistics on deaths related to learners drowning in pit toilets. This implies that there might be many more unknown cases of learners who are victims of this tragic trend. 

The re-occurrence of pit latrine drownings continue to cast a harsh spotlight on the ANC government. The same government that has vowed to do away with pit latrines in 2014 following the death of Michael Komape. 

Arguably, these incidents could have been prevented if necessary measures were taken to eradicate unsafe and unhygienic pit toilets in schools. In essence, the challenge of unsafe sanitation is one of the many challenges many rural schools have. 

These are the schools that are starved of state resources and neglected. This practice remains and continues to perpetuate inequalities between urban and rural schools. 

Not much has been done in terms of implementing minimum uniform norms and standards for public school infrastructure, which banned pit toilets at schools and created a legal responsibility for the national and provincial education departments to eradicate them at schools.  

The lack of data and an apparent lack of transparency around the SAFE initiative makes it hard for the public to monitor claims of progress. 

It is impossible for the government to adequately address the needs at schools if it does not have accurate data on the conditions in schools. Failure to implement all plans illuminate deep systemic failures in the ANC government, and contradicts claims about the progress made. 

On a community level, there is a growing sense of hopelessness in the government to fulfil its promise of eradicating pit toilets at schools. In addition, there is fear and panic among parents that their children can become victims, while their children are not spared from the indignity, discomfort and danger of using pit latrines.

Plans remain beset by implementation challenges, and millions of rands allocated to school infrastructure initiatives have been allegedly lost to corruption, with private companies linked to the government being contracted to build and service school infrastructure looting funds. 

Following the drowning of Langalam Viki in March, the Department of Basic Education has once again made a commitment to eradicating pit-toilets by 2025. This comes after many years of empty promises made by the same department. 

Naledi Ramontja is a research assistant at the University of Johannesburg’s Institute of Pan-African Thought and Conversation.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Mail & Guardian.