Human Rights Commission raises alarm over ‘unsafe’ new VIP pit toilets at Eastern Cape schools

10 Feb 2025

As construction teams enter the last two months before the deadline to replace traditional pit toilets at schools with safer infrastructure, the South African Human Rights Commission has raised concern that the ‘improved’ VIP pit toilets that are replacing dangerous old ones do not comply with the safety standards set by the Water Research Commission.

In January, during a press conference held by Eastern Cape education MEC Fundile Gade and Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube, it was announced that the province was “100 or so” schools away from eradicating traditional pit toilets in the province.

However, a South African Human Rights Commission report, released on Monday, found that the focus had been on quantities and in many cases the projects were completed without adhering to the standards set by the Water Research Commission (WRC) in 2016.

“Unless the Department ensures that all newly constructed or retrofitted VIP latrines comply with the WRC’s guidelines, these facilities remain inherently unsafe,” the report read.

These guidelines outline critical safety features that must be incorporated into ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrines to address the specific needs of younger pupils, particularly those in the foundation phase (ages three to even) and include:

Smaller pedestals: Toilet openings must be reduced in size to accommodate younger pupils, preventing accidental falls;

Protective handles: Handles must be installed to help young children to maintain balance, ensuring stability and safety;

Offset pits: The latrine openings must not directly expose users to the pit below, reducing the risk of falls and improving safety;

Reinforced structural elements: All facilities must be built to withstand environmental pressures and heavy use, ensuring long-term stability and safety;

Each latrine must provide sufficient privacy for pupils, upholding their dignity; and

Proper ventilation: VIPs must be designed to ensure adequate airflow, minimising odours and improving hygiene.

“The failure to implement these guidelines has already contributed to preventable tragedies, including the deaths of young learners. The Department of Basic Education must ensure that all VIP latrines are retrofitted or redesigned to meet these standards without delay,” the Eastern Cape head of the commission, Dr Eileen Carter, said.

She added that it remains unconstitutional for the state to claim that it is addressing school sanitation as an “incremental and resource-dependent” objective, because the right to education is immediately realisable.

Traditional pit toilets, as recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO), are rudimentary sanitation systems that lack ventilation, structural integrity or mechanisms to manage odours and disease-carrying pests.

VIP latrines, on the other hand, are designed to address many of the deficiencies associated with traditional pit toilets. They include ventilation pipes to reduce odours, fly screens to minimise pests and reinforced construction to ensure greater safety and stability. The WHO endorses VIP latrines as a viable sanitation solution in low-resource and water-scarce contexts, such as South Africa, owing to their ability to operate without water.

Read more: Eradicating pit toilets, one click at a time – Gwarube launches Safe Schools App

“However, VIP latrines can only meet these public health objectives if designed and implemented in accordance with safety guidelines,” the report continued, adding that the commission’s investigation revealed that systemic challenges relating to traditional pit toilets, VIP latrines and even flush toilets remained in the province.

As in previous investigations by the commission, including on the state of hunger in the Eastern Cape, Carter argues that budgets and priorities must be set according to the Constitution.

“This failure is further highlighted by the neglect to adequately address systemic inefficiencies, reliance on costly implementing agents, and the diversion of critical funds… This report calls for a recalibration of the state’s approach to school sanitation, emphasising that unsafe conditions in schools are not simply an issue of inadequate resources but a systemic failure to prioritise the safety, dignity and education of learners. Addressing these failures requires immediate, targeted and well-coordinated action to bridge the gap between policy intent and practical outcomes,” the report said.

“The replacement of traditional pit toilets with VIP latrines under the SAFE programme was intended to improve school sanitation. However, the failure to design VIPs in line with Water Research Commission guidelines has resulted in facilities that are unsafe for young learners, particularly those aged three to seven years.”

Critical safety failures in some of the VIP toilets visited by the commission included:

The latrines had large, adult-sized openings, posing life-threatening hazards to younger children, as evidenced by deaths at Mcwangele Primary School in Vaalbank and other schools;

The absence of critical design features, such as smaller pedestals and protective barriers, denies pupils the privacy and dignity guaranteed by the Constitution; and

Fear and insecurity created by noncompliant VIPs hinder young pupils’ ability to engage fully in their education.

The report highlighted that there was inconsistent implementation of WRC guidelines and that this disproportionately affected rural and underresourced schools, perpetuating inequality and apartheid-era infrastructure disparities.

It recommended:

The Department of Basic Education must take urgent steps to ensure that all school sanitation facilities comply with the Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure;

The department must immediately adopt and enforce the 2016 WRC guidelines for age-appropriate sanitation facilities; and

An urgent circular must be issued for schools to ensure that their sanitation facilities comply strictly with the WRC’s recommendations and prescribe appropriate penalties, retrofitting and maintenance for noncompliance.

The commission also ordered that the department report back to it within 60 days, outlining specific steps taken to eradicate traditional pit toilets; measures implemented to ensure that all sanitation facilities comply with the WRC guidelines; and timelines for addressing the identified gaps in sanitation infrastructure.

Human rights commissioner, Professor Tshepo Madlingozi, said the report clearly held the Eastern Cape education department liable.

“We would like a constitutional dialogue with the state and stakeholders,” he said. “We would like to understand what the challenges are so we can propose solutions.

“The VIP toilets do not meet the design and quality specifications.

“The death of one child is one too many. Since 2018 there have been a number of children who went to school and then a call came to tell their parents that they are no more.”

Read more: Here’s my promise — by 31 March 2025 all pit toilets in SA schools will be eradicated

Madlingozi stressed that the report should be read with the report on the lack of road infrastructure in the province.

Carter said they had received numerous complaints about the school toilets.

Nomathemba Ntyulu, who led the investigation, said that when properly designed the VIP toilets can be a significant improvement on the traditional pit toilets.

“Many VIP toilets are not designed to accommodate the needs of younger learners, exposing them to significant safety risks,” she said.

The Eastern Cape recently recorded the deaths of three children due to unsafe sanitation facilities, one at a traditional pit toilet at Luna Primary School in Mbizana, and two at VIP toilets at Mcwangule Primary School in Vaalbank and Little Champions Daycare in Mdantsane.

“The Department of Education’s discount for the WRC’s guidelines, despite their widespread dissemination and demonstrated necessity, constitutes a breach of its constitutional obligations under section 29 of the Constitution,” the report continued. “The Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure further emphasise the requirement for safe, secure and age-appropriate facilities. The absence of adherence to these standards transforms the so-called ‘improvements’ into yet another iteration of unsafe infrastructure, perpetuating the risks these replacements were meant to mitigate.” DM

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