Fama Primary School still has pit toilets, almost two years after the Department of Education’s most recent deadline to replace them countrywide.
Fama Primary School in Flagstaff, Eastern Cape, has about 250 learners but only three pit toilets.
The national department of education has missed two deadlines, in 2023 and 2024, to eradicate all pit toilets at schools across the country.
GroundUp visited the school last week and saw broken windows, damaged fencing, and classrooms with large holes in the floors.
Eighteen toilets were built in 1994, but only three are still usable. The others have dilapidated cubicles without doors or have no seats.
“These toilets are a danger waiting to happen,” said Zondamakhaladi Qubimpi, the school’s gardener and gatekeeper, whose two grandchildren attend the school. “It is not safe for learners to use these toilets because they could fall into the pit,” he said.
Prefab classrooms used for older learners are in poor condition and have large holes in the floor. Doors do not close properly, and windows are covered with plastic. Brick-and-mortar classrooms built with donations from the community are also in disrepair.
Provincial education department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima told GroundUp that the school was on a priority list for upgrades, but he could not provide a timeline.
Archie Roji, an inspector with the provincial infrastructure department, said that the school is part of the department’s Sanitation Appropriate for Education (SAFE) programme, but there are budget constraints.
The school is also on the department’s 10-year plan for a Grade R centre to be built, which is expected to happen in the 2026/27 financial year.
The “provision of decent classrooms, adoption of the district priorities is derailed by backlog and budget availability,” said Roji.
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Sir Squire
Oke / Ou – guy [oak] / [oh] South Africa’s most common word for a man or guy and is similar in meaning to ‘china’, ‘bru’ or ‘boet’.
Indestructible Potato
Van is getting married, but he and his fiancee have never done the deed – in fact he\’s never been with any woman before. He\’s getting more and more nervous as the big day approaches, so he confides in his friend. His friend says \’No worries man. I\’ll come by the honeymoon suite before you guys get there, and I\’ll hide behind the curtain, and I\’ll whisper instructions to you.\’
\’You\’d do that for me?\’
\’Sure thing man!\’
So the wedding day arrives, it was a lovely service (so I was told, I wasn\’t there myself) and Van\’s friend sneaks into the honeymoon suite as promised and hides behind the curtain.
Van and his new wife arrive in the room, get settled on the bed, and things are getting steamy.
But Van is still super nervous and his tummy is bubbling, so he murmers to his wife, \’Listen babe, I\’m just gonna go to the bathroom quick. I think it\’s that wors roll from earlier.\’
\’Sure thing babe.\’
So Van goes into the bathroom, and he\’s taking quite a long time. And his wife is starting to feel the nerves herself. And it\’s getting worse. She can\’t hold it in. But she doesn\’t want to go after he\’s gone and totally ruin the mood. So she looks around and finally finds a shoebox. Quickly, she does her business in the shoebox, and she shoves it under the bed just as Van comes back from the loo.
Van gets back on the bed and they go at it again. But after a minute or so Van smells something not so lekker.
\’What\’s that smell?\’
\’Nothing babe,\’ he wife tries to assure him.
\’No man there\’s definitely something not so lekker in this room!\’VSo Van starts looking around the room, in the corners, in the cupboard, and finally he looks under the bed, and sees the shoebox.
He pull it out, and opens it up, and in horror he shouts \’Sies! Daar\’s kak in hierdie doos!\’
And from behind the curtain his friend yells, \’NEE MAN, DRAAI HAAR OM!\”