The drowning of five-year-old Lumka Mketwa in a school pit toilet last week has shocked South Africans into fighting for proper school infrastructure, for every single child in our country.
The little girl drowned on Monday. Her body lay in the toilet overnight at Luna Primary School in Bizana as loved ones and school staff looked for her.
She was only found on Tuesday, according to Eastern Cape police.
“(The) learner at Luna Primary School‚ was reported missing at the school on Monday and a search – involving police and the community – was conducted to find her. Unfortunately‚ her lifeless body was found the next day at the school’s pit latrine toilet‚” said NCOP spokesperson Moloto Mothapo.
The incident was similar to one at a school outside Polokwane in 2014, where five-year-old Michael Komape drowned in a pit toilet.
On Friday President Cyril Ramaphosa said he was appalled and saddened by Lumka’s death.
He told Motshekga to conduct an audit of all learning facilities with unsafe structures, particularly unsafe ablution facilities within a month and to present him with a plan to rectify the challenges as an emergency interim measure while rolling out proper infrastructure within three months.
But South Africans don’t want to wait 3 months, they want action now.
A crowdfunding campaign was started by Fiona Phillips to Eradicate pit toilets in all South African schools. Her aim is to do what government have failed to do. And do it more timeously.
“Yet another child, this time 5 years old, has died in a school Pit Toilet in South Africa this week, the second such occurrence in about a year. The is simply unacceptable, and the Department of Education is reportedly “sending deepest sympathies” and “looking into the budget” for new toilets, but that’s what they said last time round.
How many children have to suffer this completely undignified and totally preventable way before action is taken to eliminate Pit Toilets from our schools?
Please share far and wide, and let’s try to raise enough money to eliminate Pit Toilets from all South African schools once and for all!!
We owe it to the innocent children … to the future of our beautiful country!!”
Pit Toilets have been a problem in underprivileged and underfunded government schools for over 25 years and Phillips is using the crowdfunding campaign to rally all South Africans to do what government have failed to.
To assist her in this campaign, please click here and share this story with all your friends and followers.
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