A year after Lumka Mkethwa, five, fell and died in a pit latrine at her school in Mbizana, the department of education has been looking into alternative sanitation solutions – one being the “Ilali” loo – as per instructions from President Cyril Ramaphosa.
After Lumka’s tragic death at Luna Primary School in Mbizana, Ramaphosa announced the sanitation appropriate for education (SAFE) plan.
Ramaphosa’s plan seeks to appeal to the private sector, non-government organisations and international organisations to partner with government and support the construction of new technology toilets, and for companies to adopt a group of schools for a combined solution to sanitation, water, and off-grid solutions.
The Ilali Loo, derived from the Xhosa word ilali meaning village, is a water saving ceramic flushing toilet that needs no sewer infrastructure to function.
This solution, which uses tank water to flush, was invented by a Durban-based company in response to the sanitation crisis in peri-urban and rural areas.
Luna Primary has become the first school where this project was being piloted by the provincial education department.
Speaking to the Dispatch on Friday, provincial education head of infrastructure, Tsepo Pefole, said the system was being piloted among other new technologies.
“What is attractive about it [Ilali Loo] is the low water use, use of age-appropriate water pans , meaning a learner could never fall into it,” he said.
The toilet uses just 1.5l of water to flush‚ compared to the seven to nine litres per flush in a normal toilet.
It also has an optional 50l reservoir tank‚ which provides 33 flushes.
The tank can be used to store rain-harvested or grey water.
Lumka’s death became the point of reference for government’s failure to provide safe and proper sanitation at schools.
She was the second pupil to die in school, following the death of Michael Komape, who fell and died in a pit latrine at his Limpopo school in 2014.
According to the a recent school sanitation audit that was conducted by the department of basic education (DBE), after Lumka’s death, it would cost government more than R6.8bn to eradicate pit latrines at schools throughout SA.
The bulk of that budget, more than R2,5bn, is needed for the Eastern Cape, the province with the highest number of schools with pit latrines.
The sanitation audit indicated there were 3,898 schools with pit latrines in the country.
The Eastern Cape tops the list with 1,598 schools, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 1,365 schools and Limpopo with 507.
Pefole said more technologies would be piloted as the president’s plan was being implement...