Pit toilets: back to court
Civil Rights Organisation Section 27 says it will be returning to the Limpopo High Court Polokwane Division on 24 May to continue the fight for safe, dignified and sanitary school toilets in Limpopo.
Faranaaz Veriava, Head of the Education Rights Programme says they have filed heads of argument with the court in October 2020 to continue the now six-year legal battle against the Department of Education and the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to fight for the eradication of the pit toilets which have been responsible for the death of many learners at school, including Michael Komape.
She says the departments claims that all schools in Limpopo will only have safe toilets between 2028 and 2030. “This is unconstitutional, and we are demanding that the education authorities draft a plan for the eradication of pit latrines that is coherent and meets their obligations to realise the right to basic education immediately.
Provision of safe toilets is one of the requirements from the structural order handed down in the Rosina Komape and Others v. Department of Basic Education and Others, 2016 case. When that case concluded in 2018, the court ordered that the DBE and LDOE had to supply each school in Limpopo with safe and dignified toilets, to conduct a comprehensive audit of sanitation needs by detailing the names and locations of all schools with pit toilets in the province and provide a comprehensive plan for the installation of new toilets.”
She says since the structural order, the LDOE and DBE have filed two affidavits with the court which failed to provide accurate data and do not constitute a coherent or comprehensive plan for the eradication of pit toilets.
“Unless a more comprehensive, urgent and coherent plan is implemented, thousands of learners will be at risk of dying or being injured at schools with unsafe toilets for the next decade. Only a handful of schools have been earmarked for interventions before 2030, with no information about why certain schools have been chosen and others have not. And because of education authorities’ history of missed deadlines, financial mismanagement and disregard for learners’ safety, we are saying this is not good enough.”
Section 27 is calling for the court to rule the DBE and LDOE’s plan for the abolishing of pit toilets as unconstitutional. We are requesting that the court orders that the DBE and LDOE file a new, consolidated plan with the court about how they will urgently eradicate all pit toilets at schools in the province, and replace them with appropriate sanitation.
Departmental Spokesperson Tidimalo Chuene says the department will respond in due time.