Another pit latrine has claimed a young life and the DA has blamed Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga for delaying the eradication of all pit toilets at some schools across the country.
The DA’s Basic Education Spokesperson in the Eastern Cape Baxolile Nodada expressed his condolences to the family of the schoolgirl whose body was found in a pit toilet at a school.
The body of the 4-year-old schoolgirl from a primary school in Glen Grey was discovered inside a pit toilet after her mother raised the alarm when she failed to return home on Monday.
It was reported that the girl’s mother went in search of her daughter at the school enquiring about her whereabouts and was met with shock and devastation after her child’s body was discovered in the toilet.
According to Nodada, the 2021 National Education Infrastructure Management System (NEIMS) report revealed that 5 167 schools (21.1%) were still forced to use pit toilets, while 5 836 (25%) schools did not have a reliable water supply.
“Yet in answer to parliamentary questions, Minister Motshekga has stated that only 3 898 schools were initially identified and that work proceeded at only 2 786 of those,” he said.
Nodada added that of the 2 786 schools, only 2 359 had been partially completed.
“In 2021/22, an additional 622 schools with pit toilets were identified. These wildly differing numbers in the minister’s answers to parliamentary questions and the NEIMS report indicate that either the department is not on top of the situation, or is trying to hide the serious extent of the problem,” he highlighted.
Nodada further indicated that the DA warned President Cyril Ramaphosa during debate after the State of the Nation Address (SONA) that pit toilets continued to pose a serious danger for learners.
“The ANC government is playing with poor and vulnerable learners’ lives. It cannot be that children continue to be actively put in harm’s way on a daily basis and killed in an environment that’s meant to provide safety and security, because the minister does not possess the political will to remedy the crisis,” he said.
He said the DA would be conducting oversight of the school and visiting the parents of the child in the coming days.
Provincial spokesperson, Majola Nkohli said investigations around the death of the child were under way.
“A preliminary investigation led to the recovery of the learner’s body in one of the school’s pit toilets. Members from SAPS Search and Rescue retrieved her body. Circumstances surrounding the incident are forming part of the investigation. Police have opened an inquest docket,” Nkohli said.
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