862 South African schools don't have water: Motshekga

Hundreds of public schools remain without piped water, electricity, and sanitation, according to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga.

In written reply to a parliamentary question on Thursday, she said of the country's 23,742 public schools 862 did not have access to water, 1366 did not have access to electricity, and 643 did not have access to sanitation facilities.

A table accompanying the reply shows the majority of these are in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Of the 5469 schools in the Eastern Cape, 582 are without water, 550 without electricity, and 519 without sanitation.

In KwaZulu-Natal, of the total 5858 public schools, 181 do not have water, 628 do not have electricity, and 81 lack sanitation facilities.

Motshekga said her department had prioritised the provision of basic services to schools.

Regulations in this regard were passed in November last year, and within three years of this date all schools had to be provided with acceptable basic services, she said.