– Toilet crisis requires urgent attention.
– School spends R19 200 per month on eight mobile toilets.
– Dilapidated, unhygienic and insufficient toilets threaten learner dignity and safety.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo calls on Education MEC, Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya to urgently intervene on the toilet crisis at Rivubye High School.
The school has toilets that are insufficient, dilapidated, unsafe and inappropriate for learner and staff use. The school had pit toilets that were demolished in 2023 but the department has not built new toilets, and is reliant on mobile toilets. View photos here, here, here , here and here.
The school makes use of some of the dilapidated toilets and eight mobile toilets for 846 learners and they are insufficient. The school has had to use the mobile toilets for more than three years and the department currently pays R19 200 per month, instead of building new ablution facilities. These mobile toilets were meant to be a temporary measure but have become a permanent fixture at the school.
The hygiene standards of these toilets is also a cause for concern. The mobile toilets have no basins so learners often do not wash their hands after using the toilet and the service provider for the mobile toilets only cleans them once a week. The remaining ablution blocks lack taps, toilet seats and functioning doors.
It is clear that the department has neglected Rivubye High School and failed to maintain infrastructure. Last month the school also received a notice for contraventions linked to infrastructure challenges from the Department of Employment and Labour following an inspection.
The sanitation infrastructure challenges in schools in the province highlight the department’s continued failure to manage the province’s school infrastructure.
Learners and teachers should not have to function in conditions that endanger their health, compromise their dignity, and are unsafe. The DA will continue to monitor the situation until it is resolved.