SOUTH AFRICA: Govt to eradicate deadly school toilets

South Africa is to get rid of all pit latrines in state schools within two years after a five-year-old pupil drowned in a toilet in March. “This is an initiative that will save lives and restore the dignity of tens of thousands of our nation’s children,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said. Pit latrines are holes in […]

South Africa is to get rid of all pit latrines in state schools within two years after a five-year-old pupil drowned in a toilet in March.

“This is an initiative that will save lives and restore the dignity of tens of thousands of our nation’s children,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said.

Pit latrines are holes in the ground covered with a platform – and many are shoddily built. More than 4,500 state schools in South Africa have pit latrines. 

Lumka Mkhethwa’s death in March in rural Eastern Cape province came four years after another five-year-old, Michael Komape, had also died after falling into a school toilet in the northern province of Limpopo.