200 girls left to use a broken toilet
BURGERSFORT – Dikotope Secondary School’s pupils in Ga-Motodi are in a dire situation. This is because only one dilapidated toilet is working at their school. It has no roof and is utilised by more than 200 girls. The pupils described their disappointment after the year started without them having proper ablution facilities and are disappointed …
BURGERSFORT – Dikotope Secondary School’s pupils in Ga-Motodi are in a dire situation. This is because only one dilapidated toilet is working at their school. It has no roof and is utilised by more than 200 girls.
The pupils described their disappointment after the year started without them having proper ablution facilities and are disappointed to have to continue using the bush as their toilet for the foreseeable future. They told Steelburger/Lydenburg News that since 2017 their toilets at the school have been damaged.
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“I feel so bad because there are no toilets. We have to use the bush and it’s so uncomfortable. Government doesn’t care about us. There were supposed to be great toilets,” said one of the pupils.
Teachers revealed that they sought assistance from local companies and businesses, with no luck. They also reiterated that the Limpopo Department of Education was aware of their challenges.
The department’s Sam Makondo said schools across the province are given norms and standards funds, and part of these funds are meant for maintenance of school infrastructure, including maintaining the toilets.
“The department does not do day-to-day maintenance of schools. Broken windows, broken doors, falling ceilings, leaking roofs and ensuring that toilets are looked after are things schools must do from time to time and they are given funds to do so.
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“We will be demanding an explanation from the school as to why they are not maintaining these critical facilities to a point where they are dilapidated and become unusable.”
In 2016 a five-year-old boy at Mahlodinela Primary School in Limpopo died after falling into a pit toilet. The body of the grade R pupil was discovered in a toilet near his classroom several hours after he was reported missing.
More than 3 000 schools in the province have had to go without proper toilets and sanitation for the past two years, despite promises by the department that the issues would be dealt with.
