The Gauteng government has flushed R115-million down the drain - money that has had no effect in unblocking filthy school toilets.
The provincial department of education spent the sum renovating toilets at 578 schools in the province between July and September last year.
However, a Sowetan investigation into sanitation at public schools two weeks ago revealed shocking details of blocked toilets and urinals, flooded floors, and broken toilet seats, basins and taps.
An independent engineering firm which was contracted by the department to do an assesment on school toilets in Gauteng revealed in a report seen by Sowetan that toilets in 41 schools were unusable.
One of those schools, Simunye Secondary School in Bekkersdal on the West Rand, formed the subject of Sowetan's investigation.
It found that the toilets had no doors, and the basins and urinals were blocked and in a generally chaotic state.
In an internal report on the state of school toilets, the department claims maintenance at 14 schools that also formed part of the Sowetan investigation was completed last year.
The schools were among the 578 whose toilets were identified by education district offices as needing urgent attention.
But when Sowetan visited some of those schools there was no evidence any work had been done on the toilets.
At Aha-Thuto Secondary School in Orange Farm the toilets were so dirty that security guards working at the gate advised the Sowetan reporter not to use them.
At Alexandra Secondary School the toilet seats were broken, drains were blocked and the toilets dirty.
Departmental spokeswoman Phumla Sekhonyane said maintenance on the toilets at Simunye and Alexandra Secondary School, for example, was completed in August.
The cost of repairing the toilets at Alexandra Secondary was R40830 and R82575 at Simunye Secondary. Simunye was listed in the independent firm's report as being among the 41 schools in the province with unusable toilets.
A Grade 11 pupil from Simunye Secondary said no maintenance was done at the school's toilets: "Nothing was done to fix our toilets last year."
But Sekhonyane was adamant that all issues that required fixing at the schools were fixed at the time.
"Schools then had to take responsibility for the upkeep of the toilets after repairs were done," she said.
Speaking to Sowetan after it published it's investigation, education MEC Panyaza Lesufi blamed school management for failing to maintain a good standard of toilets.
"You can't change the toilets of the schools, and (then) the leadership of the schools don't maintain them, because it means I have to have almost R900-million every year [to maintain toilets]. That's not sustainable," said Lesufi.
The chairperson of the National Association of School Governing Bodies, Matakanye Matakanye, said principals and school governing body members must take the blame when money is not used for what it was intended.
macupeb@sowetan.co.za
Fixed school toilets still blocked, dirty
The Gauteng government has flushed R115-million down the drain - money that has had no effect in unblocking filthy school toilets.
The provincial department of education spent the sum renovating toilets at 578 schools in the province between July and September last year.
However, a Sowetan investigation into sanitation at public schools two weeks ago revealed shocking details of blocked toilets and urinals, flooded floors, and broken toilet seats, basins and taps.
An independent engineering firm which was contracted by the department to do an assesment on school toilets in Gauteng revealed in a report seen by Sowetan that toilets in 41 schools were unusable.
One of those schools, Simunye Secondary School in Bekkersdal on the West Rand, formed the subject of Sowetan's investigation.
It found that the toilets had no doors, and the basins and urinals were blocked and in a generally chaotic state.
In an internal report on the state of school toilets, the department claims maintenance at 14 schools that also formed part of the Sowetan investigation was completed last year.
The schools were among the 578 whose toilets were identified by education district offices as needing urgent attention.
But when Sowetan visited some of those schools there was no evidence any work had been done on the toilets.
At Aha-Thuto Secondary School in Orange Farm the toilets were so dirty that security guards working at the gate advised the Sowetan reporter not to use them.
At Alexandra Secondary School the toilet seats were broken, drains were blocked and the toilets dirty.
Departmental spokeswoman Phumla Sekhonyane said maintenance on the toilets at Simunye and Alexandra Secondary School, for example, was completed in August.
The cost of repairing the toilets at Alexandra Secondary was R40830 and R82575 at Simunye Secondary. Simunye was listed in the independent firm's report as being among the 41 schools in the province with unusable toilets.
A Grade 11 pupil from Simunye Secondary said no maintenance was done at the school's toilets: "Nothing was done to fix our toilets last year."
But Sekhonyane was adamant that all issues that required fixing at the schools were fixed at the time.
"Schools then had to take responsibility for the upkeep of the toilets after repairs were done," she said.
Speaking to Sowetan after it published it's investigation, education MEC Panyaza Lesufi blamed school management for failing to maintain a good standard of toilets.
"You can't change the toilets of the schools, and (then) the leadership of the schools don't maintain them, because it means I have to have almost R900-million every year [to maintain toilets]. That's not sustainable," said Lesufi.
The chairperson of the National Association of School Governing Bodies, Matakanye Matakanye, said principals and school governing body members must take the blame when money is not used for what it was intended.
macupeb@sowetan.co.za
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