Minister Gwarube and Eastern Cape Education MEC Gade deliver safe and dignified sanitation to Eastern Cape learners and teachers
The Minister of Basic Education, Ms. Siviwe Gwarube, together with the Eastern Cape MEC for Education, Mr. Fundile Gade, spent the whole of Thursday in the OR Tambo Inland Education District, handing over newly built toilets to schools as part of efforts to eradicate the legacy of unsafe pit latrines. The handovers form part of the SAFE (Sanitation Appropriate for Education) Initiative, which seeks to ensure that all learners and teachers have access to safe and dignified sanitation facilities.
During the visit, Minister Gwarube re-emphasized that appropriate sanitation structures are not only a matter of safety but are intrinsically linked to a learner’s right to dignity. “No child should have to choose between education and safety. The eradication of pit latrines is a human rights imperative, and we remain firm in our commitment to ensuring that all schools have appropriate sanitation,” the Minister said.
Minister Gwarube also used the occasion to announce that on 4 April 2025, she will visit Limpopo Province, where she will make a National Announcement regarding the 31 March 2025 deadline for the eradication of all pit latrines on the SAFE Initiative backlog.
The Minister said that she was encouraged by the pace at which the Department of Basic Education’s Implementing Agents are delivering sanitation projects. However, she raised concerns about the slower progress of donor-managed projects and warned that should the delays persist, decisive action will be taken to ensure that all commitments to learners are met without further delays.
The Department of Basic Education remains committed to working with provinces, donors, and stakeholders to achieve the goal of eliminating unsafe sanitation in schools and upholding the rights of every learner to a safe and dignified learning environment.
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