Motshekga: Ridding schools of pit toilets will cost billions
The Department of Basic Education has blamed infrastructure backlogs at public schools on a lack of adequate funding and capacity.
Minister Angie Motshekga briefed the media after an urgent meeting with education MEC's and Heads of Department on Thursday.
"We work with a lot of service providers, including the Department of Public Works, the backlog is huge and our budget on infrastructure is R7 billion annually and it's not adequate and sometimes there is no capacity in the country to deal with our challenges," Motshekga told the media.
The meeting comes after a 5 year-old died after falling into a pit toilet at an Eastern Cape school last week.
Motshekga says to get rid of pit toilets in Limpopo alone will cost R3 billion.
"The infrastructure budget for Limpopo just to keep lights going and water flowing is a R1 billion annually, so we have R1 billion to keep everything going, including paying rent. Just to deal with eradicating pit toilets it has been estimated that it will cost us R3 billion in Limpopo and that is just one province."
Non-governmental organisation Section 27 is already locked in a court battle with the department over the death of 5-year-old Michael Komape, who also died after falling into a pit toilet at a Limpopo school in 2014.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered Motshekga and her team to compile a sanitation audit at all public schools.
"A comprehensive costed plan informed by an audited report of all the needs identified for sanitation and abolition facilities at schools will be submitted to the president in three months. We will not only give him an audit report but we will give him a comprehensive costed plan, so that we know how much this will cost us," said Motshekga.
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