A primary school that Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe attended is so rundown that teachers and pupils have to share the same toilets.

Some teachers at Totomeng Primary School in Zone8 Meadowlands, Soweto, have resorted to using the toilets at nearby malls and petrol stations.

The school, which is on the same street where Motlanthe grew up, was founded in 1959.

The facility has a shortage of toilets and classrooms, and is in desperate need of a soccer field. Sowetan was not allowed to take pictures of the school.

Principal Rahab Vilakazi said she had approached the department of education about the problem and that the department recently sent someone to assess the situation.

Vilakazi said teachers used the school library as a staff room.

"This is an old school and we would love to see it being renovated and extended."

Maki Dube, who attended the school with Motlanthe, said she had previously proposed that he should assist in renovating the school.

"He told me he was busy with a number of projects," she said.

"When I followed up later his secretary told me they were still busy and would get back to me."

Motlanthe's spokesman, Thabo Masebe, said they had not received a formal request on the matter.

Gauteng education spokesman Charles Phahlane said they had identified schools that were in various states of disrepair, but he was unable to indicate where the school was on the list.

- bambalelep@sowetan.co.za