Eastern Cape 4-Year-Old's Body Found in School Pit Toilet Increasing Calls for Eradication of Illegal Latrines

• A little girl lost her life after falling into a pit latrine at a primary school in Glen Grey village, Eastern Cape
• The four-year-old death has renewed calls to the South African government to fulfil its constitutional mandate of eradicating illegal pit toilets in schools
• The Department of Basic Education promised to have the latrines removed from all schools by the end of the 2022/23 financial year, but it missed the deadline

GLEN GREY - The state of sanitation in South Africa's rural schools has been thrust into the stoplight once again after a devastating discovery at an Eastern Cape primary school.

A four-year-old girl's body was found in a pit toilet on Tuesday morning, 7 March, when the little girl's mother went in search of her child after she didn't come home on Monday, 6 March.

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Eastern Cape girl's death slammed as unacceptable after government failed to deliver eradicate illegal pit toilets

Amnesty International South Africa has slammed the four-year-old's death as unacceptable because it comes a week after the Department of Basic Education missed the deadline to eradicate all illegal pit latrines in schools.

Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga told Parliament that her department planned to eradicate pit toilets for schools by the end of the 2022/23 financial year. The financial year ended on 28 February.

Amnesty International South Africa's Executive Director Shenilla Mohamed called the DBE to report how many illegal plain pit toilets remain in South African schools.

Mohamed added:

"No child’s life should be lost because of the failures and shortfalls of the department. By continuing to fail to do so, the DBE is showing total disregard for the basic human rights of learners.”

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Eastern Cape police spokesperson Majola Nkohli said that authorities have opened an inquest docket and are investigating the circumstances of the four-year-old's death.

South Africans blame the SA government for the Eastern Cape 4-year-old's death

South Africans believe the four-year-olds life could have been spared if only the government lived up to its responsibilities.

Below are some comments:

@kanniekaknie accused:

"Angie Motshegka, Cyril Ramaphosa, this death is on YOU."

@LudidiVelani marvelled:

"Almost 30 years into our democracy, we still have pit toilets in schools."

@DreschnnyMall complained:

"Oscar Mabuyane has failed dismally in addressing the problems faced by the people of Eastern Cape, yet they went on to re-elect him."

@NzithaThsanana added:

"Sadder that the people of the EC will still vote for the ANC that is nothing but a loss to them."

2-Year-old Kganya Mokhele’s family says Bedfordview creche withheld access to CCTV footage after tragic death

In another story, Briefly News reported that the family of two-year-old Kganya Mokhele is devastated at their little boy's death and the school's conduct after a bookshelf crushed him on Tuesday, 7 March.

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Mokhele attended Little Ashford Preschool in Bedfordview, Johannesburg, where he met with unfortunate circumstances.

Initial reports indicated that the tragic incident happened around 11am on Tuesday, but Mokhlele's grandfather, Sipho Radebe, told the media that CCTV footage showed that the bookshelf fell on the little boy at around 9am, reports News24.

Source: Briefly News