South Africa: Limpopo Protesters Demand Urgent Mobile Toilets for Schools With Pit Latrines

One school has three pit toilets for 400 learners. About 60 members of Equal Education and parents of learners marched on Tuesday to the Limpopo Department of Basic Education in Polokwane, demanding the immediate provision of mobile toilets at schools that still rely on pit latrines. Most of the marchers were from Ga‑Mashashane.

Equal Education cited the 2021 National Education Infrastructure Management System report, which shows that 5,167 of the country’s 23,275 public schools still use plain pit toilets. These facilities were banned under the Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards for Public School Infrastructure in 2013 and were supposed to be removed and replaced by 2016. The Department of Basic Education missed the deadlines in 2016, 2020 and 2023, according to Equal Education.

In 2017, Equal Education visited 18 schools in Ga‑Mashashane and found that most learners had to use plain pit toilets. Follow‑up visits in 2020 and 2023 showed that conditions in some schools remained unchanged, while in others they had worsened. Jay‑Dee Cyster, Equal Education’s Communications Manager, said the Limpopo Education Department was slow to meet its moral and legal responsibilities to learners. Mike Maringa, spokesperson for the Limpopo Department of Basic Education, said the department was preparing to update the courts on its progress in line with a court directive.

On Tuesday, Equal Education members traveled from Ga‑Mashashane to Polokwane in four minibus taxis, singing and waving placards that read “Stop missing deadlines,” “No more extensions, keep your promise,” “Learners’ lives are in danger,” and “Pits are undignified.” They marched to the department’s offices on Biccard Street. One learner told GroundUp that the school’s toilets now pose a danger: “Recently our principal had to fix one of the toilet seats with plastic, but we are afraid of using the toilet in such condition.”

Francis Mothiba, a member of the school governing body at Seipone Secondary, said parents had been speaking to the department for eight years. He noted that 400 learners at the school share only three pit toilets, which have cracks and are close to failing, yet learners are forced to use them in that state. Isaac Malatji, Chief Director of Infrastructure in the Limpopo Department of Basic Education, received and signed the memorandum.