Schools’ flushing toilets project face water challenges

With 27 days left until the deadline for the eradication of pit latrines in public schools across the country, some provinces say they are facing water challenges which have made it impossible to demolish the toilets.

The North West province still has 44 pit toilets that must be demolished, while Mpumalanga has 13.

While the two provinces say they though they prefer not use the pit toilets anymore, they have challenges with flushing toilets because of water shortages.

North West education spokesperson Mphata Molokwane said: “The challenge is that schools are refusing to demolish [the pit toilets] due to inconsistent water supply.”

Minister of basic education Siviwe Gwarube has committed to eradicating pit toilets from across the country by March 31, a deadline which has been seen as not feasible by some organisations, including lobby group Equal Education. 

In a recent parliamentary response to questions posed by ActionSA’s Lerato Ngobeni, Gwarube said of the 3,372 schools identified under the Sanitation Appropriate for Education initiative, 3,200 sanitation projects have been completed to date, with 172 identified projects still outstanding as of February 17 2025.

She said the remaining identified projects were scheduled for completion by March 31.

“Delays in some projects, caused by underperforming service providers, are being addressed through contract terminations and the procurement of replacement service providers,” she said.

However, Mpumalanga said they were also experiencing water shortages and have not demolished pit toilets.

Spokesperson Gerald Sambo said there were about 13 schools that were still using pit latrines while they also have flushing toilets. He said this was because the flushing toilets were nonfunctional due to water challenges in some communities.