Ramaphosa tells Motshekga to act on deadly pit latrines

President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday that he was “appalled and saddened” by the death of a five-year-old who fell into a pit toilet at the Luna Primary School in Bizana‚ Eastern Cape.

Lumka Mkhethwa’s body was found on Tuesday inside the latrine a day after an extensive search by residents and police with sniffer dogs.

The presidency said that Ramaphosa had directed Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga to “conduct an audit of all learning facilities with unsafe structures‚ especially unsafe ablution facilities‚ within a month and to present him with a plan to rectify the challenges‚ as an emergency interim measure while rolling out proper infrastructure‚ within three months”.

In his state of the nation address in February‚ Ramaphosa made a commitment to eliminate unsafe ablution facilities and said the process would involve consultation with civil society.

He described Lumka’s death as devastating for her family and the country. “The nation still mourns the loss of young Michael Komape under similar tragic circumstances in 2014.”