More than 500 000 South African pupils still depend on unsafe pit toilets

IOL News

10-05-2025

SA non-profit organisation, which launched a nationwide campaign to eradicate pit toilets in schools, has estimated that more than 500 000 pupils are still dependent on unsafe pit toilets.
Image: Supplied
Breadline Africa has warned that more than 500 000 pupils are estimated to still rely on dangerous and unhygienic pit toilets at their schools in various parts of the country.
This comes after Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube, in a recent Parliamentary response to the EFF's Noluvuyo Tafeni, stated that the remaining 77 schools identified in the 2018 national audit are currently under construction.
The minister said the Department of Basic Education (DBE), together with Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) and the DBE's implementing agents, have made significant progress in improving sanitation facilities at public schools under the Sanitation Appropriate For Education (SAFE) initiative.
Gwarube stated that out of the 3 898 public schools initially identified under the SAFE initiative, 3 372 required assistance.
'To date, of the 3 372 public schools identified with basic pit toilets, 3 295 public schools have received sanitation facilities, and 77 are currently under construction and targeted to be completed at the end of August 2025,' she said.
These include 54 in the Eastern Cape and 23 in KwaZulu-Natal.
'Once the identified sanitation projects have been completed under the SAFE initiative, the work of the government in eradicating pit latrine toilets at public schools must continue,' said the minister.
Breadline Africa, a non-profit organisation that has launched a nationwide campaign to eradicate pit toilets in schools, said this issue is a silent but deadly legacy of inequality that continues to threaten the safety, health, and dignity of learners across the country.
This ongoing crisis has claimed the lives of many children, including pupils.
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Nyaradzo Mutanha, monitoring and evaluation specialist at Breadline Africa, said while the organisation welcomes the department's stated commitment and acknowledges the progress achieved through the SAFE initiative, they believe that significant work remains, particularly in under-resourced and rural areas where many schools still face critical sanitation challenges.
Mutanha said the organisation works directly with schools across the country to provide safe and dignified sanitation infrastructure.
Since 2023, the NPO has replaced pit toilets at 29 schools with the support of private donors, corporates, and development partners.
'In one municipal district alone – uMgungundlovu in KwaZulu-Natal – we have received urgent requests for support from more than 110 schools, all of which still rely on unsafe and undignified pit toilets, and some lack any toilets at all,' she said.
Mutanha said these applications represent thousands of children who are still at daily risk, often resorting to open defaecation, sickness, skipping school, or going without hydration to avoid using these facilities.
'If we extrapolate the 110 school requests in this single district across the other nine districts in KwaZulu-Natal, along with six in the Eastern Cape and five in Limpopo, we estimate that more than 2 000 schools may still be affected by inadequate and often unsafe sanitation, negatively impacting over 500 000 children.'
The minister stated that the persistent issue of pit toilets underscores the complexity of addressing public school infrastructure backlogs in a sector with historical underinvestment, competing budgetary demands, and implementation challenges at the provincial level.
Gwarube said the National Treasury has announced that the School Infrastructure Backlog Grant (SIBG), which funds the SAFE initiative, will cease to exist and be amalgamated into the Education Infrastructure Grant (EIG) at the end of the current financial year.
'This means that, with effect from the 2026/27 financial year, all infrastructure delivery, including addressing all pit latrines that may not have been included in the 2018 audit, will be implemented by PEDs,' she said.
While this reform aims to streamline resource allocation, Gwarube said it reduces the ability of the DBE to directly influence infrastructure delivery at a provincial level. 'Consequently, provinces will play an even greater role in the implementation of public school infrastructure projects, including sanitation projects.'
Gwarube said the fact that MECs do not report directly to the minister, deputy minister, or the DBE in this regard necessitates heightened collaboration and oversight to ensure that national priorities are effectively implemented at the provincial level.
She added that PEDs should not be returning funds to the National Treasury while public school infrastructure backlogs persist.
The minister added that accountability mechanisms will need to be strengthened to prevent systemic negligence and to ensure the safety and dignity of all learners.
Gwarube intends to review the regulations relating to Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards for Public School Infrastructure to ensure that they are clear, provide for clear oversight mechanisms, and can lead to improvements in infrastructure delivery at a school level.
Mutanha said while the organisation recognises the intention to devolve responsibility to provinces, as this is an ongoing crisis, they believe oversight should take place centrally.
She said this must be matched with sufficient provincial resources, technical support, and strong accountability mechanisms. Provinces will require clear targets, ring-fenced funding, and regular public reporting to ensure that progress continues and that sanitation infrastructure remains a priority even beyond the SAFE initiative's original scope.
'A new comprehensive, transparent national audit is urgently needed to quantify the full scale of the challenge and ensure that no child is left behind,' said Mutanha.
In addition, Gwarube said the DBE is submitting a budget bid to the Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BFI) to supplement the EIG. This aims to support provinces in eliminating backlogs related to, among other matters, deteriorated facilities.