Pupils shun R24k-a-month smelly toilets at a rural village

The state pays R24,000 every month for four dirty and unkept plastic mobile toilets that pupils from a school in Limpopo hardly use because of their disgusting condition.

Nearly 100 pupils at Mabila Primary School at HaMabila village in Thengwe, about 37km from Thohoyandou, are exposed to choking fumes coming from the toilets because the service provider allegedly fails to clean them, sometimes for weeks.

Companies in the area charge between R9,300 and R10,000 a month to deliver, install and maintain the same number of toilets. But Zwizwo Toilet Hire, which the provincial education department has hired to provide toilets at Mabila primary, charges R24,000. This is double what they quote for locals in the Thohoyandou area. The company quoted a Sowetan reporter R3,000 to deliver, install and maintain a single toilet.

“These toilets affect children in a very bad way, and sometimes they are forced to use the bushes because the toilets are full and dirty,” said school governing body member Funanani Phaswana.

She said the department demolished the school’s pit latrines in March last year and had the mobile toilets delivered in July, with a promise to build proper toilets for the school in March this year. But this promise remains unfulfilled, leaving the pupils with no other option but to use the toilets – or the bush.

The toilets are not anchored properly and sometimes get blown over by strong winds, spilling their contents on the ground. 

To date, the department has spent R264,000 on Zwizwo’s mobile toilets.

“The department said these toilets were a temporary measure, and they disappeared on us,” said Phaswana. “We kept on following up, and they said in February this year they would come, but nothing happened.

“Now it’s June, and nothing looks promising. During summer, the area is very hot, and these toilets stink very badly. The people who clean them are supposed to come once a week, but they don’t. Sometimes we can be stuck with that bad smell for weeks.”

Tondani Chauke, the director of Zwizwo, did not reply to questions sent to him via text yesterday.

A Zwizwo employee said the company’s pricing was linked to the distance they have to travel. “We charge the department on a three-month contract basis, and they have been extending the contract since last year. Other schools we were servicing have since built their own toilets,” the worker said.

Last year, the national department of basic education said it planned to eradicate all pit latrines by March this year and replace them with proper toilets, but this has not happened.

In April, the minister of basic education, Siviwe Gwarube, said 141 schools still had unsafe toilets. She said some pit latrine eradication projects under the Sanitation Appropriate For Education Initiative initiative were assigned to private donors who had been dragging their feet. 

“That is unacceptable, and I will not make excuses,” she said at the time. “Instead, I want to assure the nation that we are doubling our efforts to ensure that these final numbers are completed with urgency.”

At Mabila Primary School, bricks meant for the construction of the toilet facilities lie on the ground.

Making the situation at the school worse is the lack of running water. The school relies on a nearby river for water, but when it runs dry in summer, pupils and staff have to ask for water from nearby homes to keep the school running.

Limpopo education department spokesperson Mike Maringa said the department had been directed to demolish all pit toilets and provide chemical ones while they wait for the budget to be approved.

“We have 3,600 schools in the province, and our budget can only accommodate a certain number. All the schools that are without proper sanitation [...] will be catered for in this financial year,” he said.

Regarding the pricing of Zwizwo’s toilets, Maringa said there was a fair tendering process, and the company offered the lowest prices.

Sowetan also visited Dzivhani Primary School at HaMphego village in Thohoyandou, and found six mobile toilets being used by just over 300 learners. The school also had its pit latrines demolished last year and were promised better toilet facilities by the department. 

“We were very sad about it,” said a teacher who asked to remain anonymous. “Because, yes, they were pit toilets, but at least there were 11 toilets and they were enough for our learners. Now, it’s a mess, because all these learners share three toilets for boys and three for girls.

“They must wait for one another, and these toilets stink. They have to bear that smell every single day. I don’t think the department will build toilets any time soon here, there are no signs of that.”

Maringa said the department had allocated a R5m budget to the school for new Enviro Loo toilets, and that construction would happen before the year ends.

Demichelle Petherbridge, a senior attorney at public interest law organisation Section27, said they were monitoring the Limpopo education department’s progress regarding the remaining schools that desperately need assistance. 

“We will continue to monitor the minister’s progress with the remaining schools completed under the [Sanitation Appropriate For Education] initiative as well as the basic education department’s plans for a national audit,” Petherbridge said.

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