“It Restored a Sense of Pride”: Shoprite Steps In To Aid Learners With Water at Verulam Secondary

• Verulam Secondary School in KwaZulu-Natal went without reliable running water for years
• Shoprite partnered with Gift of the Givers to install a fully operational borehole that now supplies clean water to the entire school
• Since the water started flowing, the school recorded a 99% matric pass rate in 2025 and attendance improved almost immediately

For years, learners at Verulam Secondary School in the eThekwini region of KwaZulu-Natal showed up to school not knowing whether the taps would work, the toilets would flush or whether they would get through a full day without disruption. The school had running water at some point, but ongoing outages across the region made the supply so unreliable that the school eventually depended on water tankers that did not always arrive on time. Teachers brought five-litre bottles from home. Rainwater was collected in JoJo tanks. Sporting events were cancelled. It was a daily crisis that nobody could fully solve, until Shoprite stepped in.

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Working together with disaster relief organisation Gift of the Givers, Shoprite facilitated the installation of a fully operational borehole system at the school towards the end of 2025. The water goes through reverse osmosis filtration before reaching two dedicated drinking stations for learners. The same system feeds the bathrooms, kitchen and cleaning facilities. For the first time in a very long time, school could be about learning again.

Watch the TikTok clip below:

Shoprite and Gift of the Givers bring water to KZN school

Briefly News spoke to school principal Mr Siva Govender, who said the change went far beyond just having water again. He said:

"What surprised us most was the immediate shift in morale across the entire school. It's not just that we have water again, it's that there's a renewed sense of dignity and normality. Even small things, like being able to run the nutrition programme without disruption or seeing learners confidently fill their water bottles, have made a big difference. It has restored a sense of pride in our school environment, which we hadn't fully realised we had lost."

Learner Lashaylen Naidoo told Briefly News what a normal school day used to feel like:

"Sometimes there was no water for days, which meant the toilets couldn't flush and everything felt uncomfortable and unhygienic. We had to bring water from home and it was hard to concentrate because you were always thinking about those challenges. Now we have clean water every day, the bathrooms are working and we can focus properly on our schoolwork."

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Shoprite's Chief Sustainability Officer, Sanjeev Raghubir, told Briefly News the retailer had already supported the school through a robotics laboratory installation before becoming aware of the school's water situation. He said:

"The severity and ongoing nature of these water challenges has a clear impact on teaching, learning and overall wellbeing of learners. Through our borehole project the school now has reliable clean drinking water available."

The borehole also serves the broader community, with parents and residents able to collect water through a designated point at the school gates. Plastic waste has dropped significantly, and the school's water bills have gone down, freeing up funding for textbooks and resources. Staff have been trained to maintain the system themselves, making it a long-term solution rather than a once-off donation.

More people stepping up for their communities

• Briefly News recently reported on informal traders in Cape Town who had been working in dangerous conditions at night for years, until a new solution came along that changed everything.
• A Cape Town woman with no job of her own has been quietly feeding and clothing her community for years.
• A daycare in KwaZulu-Natal went viral after a video showed what the gogos do there every day.

Source: Briefly News