Following the death of four-year-old Langalam Viki, who drowned in a pit toilet in Mngcqangele village earlier this month, the Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen paid a visit to her family on Human Rights Day to convey their condolences.
The deadly incident occurred earlier this month where Viki's body was found inside a pit toilet after her mother raised the alarm when she failed to return home from school.
"We cannot commemorate Human Rights Day until every child has access to safe and dignified sanitation in schools. As South Africans today commemorate our hard-won human rights, we must never lose sight of the basic rights of which millions are still deprived," DA leader John Steenhuisen said.
To mark Human Rights Day, the DA has launched a two-point plan to eradicate school pit toilets across the country to ensure that no family ever endures the tragic indignity suffered by the Viki family.
"Sadly, South Africans have become desensitised to these tragic deaths, which occur frequently in provinces across the country under ANC-run governments. The drowning of our children in pit toilets goes far beyond a human rights violation – it is a horror that no South African should ever be forced to contemplate," he said.
Steenhuisen mentioned the replies to their number of parliamentary questions around the issue of pit toilets in all provinces showed no progress in eradicating the toilets.
"A 2021 Limpopo High Court judgement, handed down by Judge Gerrit Muller, ordered that a plan to eradicate all pit toilets in the province of Limpopo be provided to the court along with a detailed implementation plan.
"This judgement, however, has no bearing on other provinces, and while the South African Human Rights Commission has promised to take broader legal action, its papers have, to date, not been filed," he said.
To address the issue of pit toilets, the DA said it will:
- Start litigation proceedings to find the quickest and most effective means to instruct governments across the country to erect proper sanitation facilities for all school children as a fundamental human right.
- Engage with civil society organisations, public advocacy groups, and non-governmental organisations working in the education space to put together a strong case.
- Ensure that it’s DA’s Shadow Minister of Basic Education, Baxolile Nodada launches a country-wide campaign to eradicate pit toilets, which will include widespread oversight visits of all school infrastructure, or a lack thereof, which may place the life of a child at risk.
Steenhuisen alleged that the ANC does not care about young children who do not have a safe place to relieve themselves in dignity and without the threat of death.
"It is clear that while the ANC national government has cut education budgets to bail out ailing state-owned entities, and presided over government departments where billions have been lost to corruption," he added.
He also stated that the DA will ensure that freedom is afforded to all South Africans, especially the 4-year-old child who died without a voice and who simply wished to use the bathroom safely at school.
Current Affairs