Sanitation and pit latrines should be treated as a national crisis, says WaterCAN

In the wake of yet another tragedy involving poor sanitation infrastructure at schools, the water and sanitation civic activism non-profit WaterCAN demands the National Government to prioritise the dignity of learners.

WaterCAN is devastated by another tragic death, this time a six-year-old Grade R pupil at Umzila Primary School in Dannhauser, KwaZulu-Natal, who fell into an unsecured school toilet on 6 August 2025.

While the Department of Basic Education (DBE) recently announced that 97% of pit toilets identified in its 2018 audit have been eradicated, this milestone is misleading. The Department is well aware that the problem is far bigger than that outdated list, yet it continues to use selective language to present an incomplete picture. Independent research from civil society shows far higher numbers of schools still reliant on pit latrines or other unsafe sanitation systems.

This tragedy underscores what WaterCAN already warned in its November 2024 statement: inadequate sanitation facilities in South Africa, particularly in schools, are a national crisis. 

At the time, WaterCAN cautioned that the prevalence of pit latrines, the failing state of wastewater treatment, and children’s safety risks represented “an unacceptable attack on people’s dignity.” Today’s devastating incident proves that those warnings were ignored.

Dr. Ferrial Adam, Executive Director of WaterCAN, said:

“No child should lose their life because a school cannot provide safe sanitation. Water is a human right, and access to safe sanitation is dignity - yet the government has failed at both. We have had repeated promises for the eradication of pit latrines in schools: the first deadline was March 2024, then extended to 2025. How many more children must die before the government treats this with the urgency it deserves? This is not an accident - it is systemic neglect.”

WaterCAN calls for a new, up-to-date national audit, based on properly researched data, so that the true scale of the problem can no longer be hidden. Without accurate data, children’s lives will remain at risk.

This tragedy also highlights the deeper issue: the absence of credible, transparent data shows how provincial education departments are failing in their basic administrative duties. If they cannot account for toilets in schools, how can they be trusted to manage any other critical function?

WaterCAN urges the Department of Basic Education and provincial governments to:

• Commission a new, independent national audit of water access and sanitation in all schools;

• Immediately eradicate all unsafe toilets, not just those identified in outdated audits;

• Ensure funds for infrastructure are fully spent, not returned to Treasury unspent;

• Place children’s dignity, safety, and rights at the centre of decision-making.
  
  

The tragic death of the young learner in Dannhauser is not the first. Unless urgent action is taken, it will not be the last.