A ccording to the Basic Education Department report, 287 schools in Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape still use pit toilets as their primary sanitation system.
In 2013, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) established public school infrastructure regulations, establishing minimum criteria for necessities like bathrooms, water, electricity, internet connection, libraries, sports facilities and labs.
These regulations aimed to hold education departments accountable and ban inadequate ablution facilities which were unsafe and present in 7 438 schools at the time.
Tragically, several incidents highlighted the urgency of these standards. In 2014, 5-year-old Michael Komape died after falling into a pit toilet and similar incidents occurred in 2017 and 2018.
Despite a 2016 deadline to eradicate pit toilets, development proceeded at a slow pace .
