Pit latrine deaths: Of all the neglect by government, this is the most shameful

Pit latrine, Durban South Africa // Photo credit: SuSanA Secretariat via Flickr

Can anyone imagine a more horrific death than drowning in three meters of faeces in a dark hole? I can’t… 

This week yet another little child died after falling into a pit latrine. Langalam Viki was 4 years old.  She died at a place where she should have been safe – her pre-school. It was one of her little friends that realised she wasn’t in the transport after school and insisted that the teachers look for her. They then made the horrific discovery of her lifeless body in the pit latrine. 

This is not the first time a child has died in South Africa under these circumstances. Michael Kompe was five years old when he also drowned in faeces after falling into the pit latrine at his school in Limpopo. I will never forget his sobbing mother relating how she saw his little hand sticking out of the sewage – clearly desperately hoping that someone would come and pull him out. 

The thing is that it has been ten - yes TEN - years since Michael died, and here we are again. 

Four years after Michael died, another little girl, Lumka Mkhethwa, drowned in a pit latrine at Luna Primary School in the Eastern Cape province. She was also five years old.

At the time Minister Angie Motshekga said: “The death of a child in such an undignified manner is completely unacceptable, and incredibly disturbing.” She went on to say: “Word cannot express the pain I personally feel at the loss of a young life in this horrific way”.  She added: “To know that as a sector we have not been able to address the infrastructure issues fast enough …. breaks my heart.”

That was six – yes SIX - years ago, so excuse me if I don’t have much sympathy for the minister. 

In the Eastern Cape it is estimated that there are about 2000 pit toilets. How long can it take to deal with that? I mean honestly??? Of course, getting water borne sewage systems in place takes time, but there are other options to prevent little bodies falling into these deep pits and drowning. 

As Dr. Carter of the Human Right Commission in Eastern Cape pointed out, these toilets – even the newer, ventilated or so-called VIP ones - are not fit for little bodies of small children. What makes this so infuriating is that there are options available, such as smaller toilet seats or double seats that are safe for a small child to use. These seats cost only a couple of hundreds rand (well, outside of government tender processes). 

Some have been installed in schools around the country, but there is absolutely no excuse for not having installed them in every one of the around 5000 pit toilets by now. 

Clearly,  despite the minister’s sweet words, no one cares enough to deal with the issue once and for all. 

In response to this latest death, the department of Basic Education’s spokesperson said that the department will launch an investigation (SIGH!). She said the department will await the report from the police while they do their own investigation. She continued to say that if they find that there is work to be done by the department that will be done. 

Really? IF there is work to be done by the department? 

She then also reminded us that things are complicated and not so simple as people might think. 

Again: Really? What on earth is complicated about this? A small child fell into a pit latrine that is not suitable for little children. What else do you need to know? I mean this is not Eskom that you need to fix!

It is statements like these that illustrate everything that is wrong in our government. 

To make matters worse, something in the order of R450 million that was earmarked for infrastructure projects in the Eastern Cape was redirected to other provinces because the money wasn’t spent. Imagine how much difference could have been made for school sanitation!

I am beyond furious with the government that they have not been able to sort this out almost 30 years after democracy. Sadly, I have no faith that it will be sorted out in the immediate future either. 

So, let me put a challenge to the private sector: Surely we can source two thousand safe toilet seats to go to schools? Let’s pull together and just do this. We can’t wait another ten years for government to get their act together. 

Thinking of the fear these little children must have felt and their desperate struggles for air in the last minutes of their lives is almost unbearable. 

Of all the things the government has neglected to deliver on, this is without doubt the most shameful.