Gwarube sets March deadline to eradicate pit toilets

On Wednesday, Gwarube visited two schools in the Eastern Cape on day one of the 2025 academic year.

Nearly 11,000 schools in the country lack a single flushing toilet, and 3,398 schools continue to depend on pit latrines. Furthermore, at least 25% of schools lack access to running water. 

Gwarube identified Limpopo and the Eastern Cape as the provinces with the biggest backlog. 

“We are working flat out to make sure that we are supporting provinces like the Eastern Cape and Limpopo that still have a high number of pit toilets and make sure that we are eradicating pit toilets,” the minister told the media. 

“Once again, it is important to note that it’s not just about safety, but it also about the dignity of not only the learners but that of the educators in those schools – so this is something that remains top of mind for me.”

According to reports, as of July 2024, about 1,770 pit toilets were still in use at Limpopo schools.

It comes in despite a 2021 court order, in which the Limpopo High Court ordered the Limpopo Department of Education to replace all pit toilets at public schools in the province.

The deadline was then set for 1 April 2023, which was later shifted to 1 April 2024.

Meanwhile, in the Eastern Cape province, provincial education MEC Fundile Gade revealed that 427 schools across the province still use pit toilets.

Gade vowed last year that the department planned to eradicate pit latrines at 75 schools during the current financial year.

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