Basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube has vowed to eliminate pit latrines at schools and overhaul the education system. She made the comment during the swearing-in of the deputy president, ministers, and deputy ministers on Wednesday.
There are certain things that are close to my heart: the issue around literacy and numeracy rates in South Africa, if we are to raise a generation of children who are going to be primed for future economies; the issue around dealing with pit toilets in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo ... we can't, in 30 years into our democracy, have children who are dying by drowning in pit toilets, says Gwarube.
Former basic education minister Angie Motshekga has stated 3,398 schools are still using pit latrines, with a deadline to eradicate them by 2025.
