Michael Komape, aged 5. Lumka Mkhethwa, aged 5. Langalam Viki, aged 3. These are children whose deaths must shame all of us. They perished in school pit latrines in Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.
Over the years the authorities have moved at a glacial pace to address the pit toilet problem and make schools safer for children.
The Eastern Cape, where Langalam’s body was pulled out of a deathtrap toilet two weeks ago, has had to send more than R100m earmarked for proper sanitation back to the National Treasury because the province could not use the money quickly enough.
You’d think those in power would work tirelessly, especially where resources are available, to ensure our children are spared the indignity, discomfort and danger of using these toilets.
But it gets worse. This week, basic education minister Angie Motshekga and DA basic education spokesperson Baxolile Nodada engaged in an unseemly dispute about the circumstances in which Langalam, from Vaalbank in the Eastern Cape, died.
As politicians bicker, our children suffer
The issue, playing itself out in parliament before the portfolio committee on basic education, was whether the girl was killed and dumped in the toilet or if she died because of her fall into the pit.
Nodada accused the minister of failing to prioritise the elimination of pit toilets; Motshekga in turn said he was using the family’s pain for political gain and retorted: “Bring it on.”
As politicians bicker, our children suffer.
In 2018, President Cyril Ramaphosa, launching Sanitation Appropriate for Education (Safe) — a programme to eliminate pit toilets at schools — told the country: “We have heard the cries of anguished families, we have felt the outrage of a society that cannot bear to witness another needless death.”
Since then, our children have been anything but safe.
It is indeed shameful that R100m meant to help save children such as Langalam must be redirected to other programmes because some officials in the Eastern Cape could not act expeditiously.
How many more must die before these abhorrences are eliminated?
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.