Pupils of Marokolong Primary School in Hammanskraal are robbed of their dignity and fundamental human rights to proper sanitation facilities.
A pupil from the school contracted diseases on her genitals allegedly due to the temporary toilets provided by the Provincial Department of Education that has not been drained over an extended period.
One of the parents to the 11-year-old child who was allegedly affected by unhygienic chemical toilets, said on the 28th March 2017, his daughter was admitted at Jubilee Hospital after complaining of pains in her genitals.
“Doctors examined her and discovered that she had perennial abscess and she was then admitted for three days.
“Since she came back from hospital in March this year she has been limping due to the abscess that she continues to suffer and the Department has not owned up to her problems,” he said.
One of parent delegates at the school who is known to Moretele Times, said after a meeting with stakeholders at the school, the contractor, accepted blame for not draining the toilets and committed to pay medical damages towards any pupil who might have been affected by the toilets.
He said on the 23 October 2017, the contractor paid R10 000 to the school to go towards medical care for the affected child and any other leaner who might have been affected by the bad conditions of the portable toilets.
However, at the time of going to press, the school had not paid out the money towards the medical treatment of the affected pupil.
“We are now surprised that the school is holding back the money stating that the money was donated to the benefit of the school.
“We are pleading with the School Principal and the SGB of the school to keep to their promise and give the parent of the affected child the money to take his daughter to a specialist because she might be permanently impaired as she is still not healed.”
Parents said the intervention of the National Department of Basic Education has not yielded any fruits as the problem is still continuing at Marokolong Primary.
The 11 year, whose name cannot be mentioned because she is a minor, said doctors confirmed that she was infected by the use of unhygienic toilets and the only such toilets she knows are at the school.
She said the school toilets are not in good condition, “toilets at school had worms and using them was a risk to our lives.
“We also did not have soap or water to wash our hands after using the unhygienic toilets,” she said.
Mr Steve Mabona, Spokesperson to Provincial Department of Education headed by MEC Panyanza Lesufi, said the department is aware and concerned about the protest by parents at the school.
When asked about the plight of the child who was affected and is still in pain after spending time at hospital, Mr Mabona said the department will only send the Director to the school on Monday to assess the situation.
He would not engage further when asked if he is aware of the child that continue to suffer because of the toilet situation and insisted that the situation will be assessed when the Director visits the school on Monday.
In a statement, Mr Mabona said “We always condemn any disruption of schooling by anyone and learners are encouraged not to join such protest. It is alleged that parents were protesting against the unhygienic toilets at the school, which resulted to some learners being sick.
“Our preliminary investigation reveals that the contract of the Service Provider has been terminated. However, the parents decided that they no longer wanted the chemical toilets and that the brick and mortar toilets on the site must be repaired. We therefore dispatched Works Inspectors to the school to assess the situation.”
He said the toilets had since been fixed and handed over to the community and that learning and teaching is currently resuming as normal.
He also confirmed the allegation that the service provider promised to compensate the affected learners.
“We can confirm that the Service Provider has deposited the R10 000 in the school’s account on 24 October 2017, as a form of compensation. The school will call a meeting to discuss how this money will be distributed to the affected learners. The department will continue to monitor the situation at the school.
“We also urge anyone to use available structures to raise issues of concern and not resort to disrupting schooling,” Mr Mabona said.
Meanwhile, Moretele Times is investigating allegations of bribery to some of the parents to stop them from pursuing the matter and that money was offered to one of the parents to keep them quite.
While the department drag its feet on the matter, the affected child that Moretele Times visited limps when she walks due to the pain in her genitals. Tonight and the night after, she will probably sleep without medical care and in pain, not knowing the condition of genitals are not permanently impaired because of the abscess that she continue to suffer on her genitals.