As the Gauteng Education Department faces a R27 billion backlog in school occupational health and infrastructure, parents at a Soshanguve primary school in Tshwane threaten to keep their children home, saying conditions of temporary mobile toilets at the school pose a health and safety risk to learners.

Parents at Rivhoningo Primary School in Soshanguve Block JJ say the learners have been forced to use temporary mobile toilets for the past three years, which are not serviced regularly.

About 700 learners have relied on 13 mobile plastic toilets after the school’s main toilet block of 15 flush toilets became permanently blocked and unusable in 2023.

According to parents who spoke to Health-e News, service providers who are supposed to remove waste from the mobile toilets, are not servicing the facilities regularly.

They also say learners do not have water taps near the mobile toilets to wash their hands after using them.

Parents claim the unhygienic conditions are making children sick.

School governing body member James Kekana says three girls have been treated for urinary tract infections at the Soshanguve Block JJ Clinic this year.

“The toilets are acidic and my biggest concern is female learners who are exposed to these unhygienic conditions,” says Kekana.

According to the school governing body, the mobile toilets are cleaned by staff twice a week and external service providers are supposed to remove waste off the site on a regular basis.

But parents who spoke to Health-e News say the service provider does not come out once the mobile toilets are filled up.

Parents fear lasting health effects

For one mother, the health concerns became frightening when her Grade 3 daughter developed a urinary tract infection in April this year.

“My daughter didn’t say anything immediately, I believe it was out of fear,” says Kgomotso*.

“However, days later I noticed she couldn’t walk properly and I saw blood stains on her underwear,” she tells Health-e News.

“I took her to the doctor and suspected she had been sexually assaulted. But the doctor explained it was a urinary infection, and probably from the toilets.”

She says she worries that poor maintenance of the toilets continues to place girls at risk.

“My other worry is that my daughter now has a fear of using the toilets and carrying urine the whole day might damage her bladder,” she says.

“We plead with the Department of Education to intervene.”

Smell and flies affect nearby residents

Ward 11 resident Mummy Ledwaba, who lives opposite the school, says the smell and flies have also become unbearable for neighbours.

“I hardly open my windows, I can’t breathe. The smell is terrible,” she says.

“I’ve endured this for months. MEC of Education, we kindly seek your intervention, it’s been way too long.”

She says she was shocked to hear a teacher instructing a learner to urinate behind the toilets.

“Those toilets are temporary toilets mainly used for funerals just for a few days, not for primary school learners to use them daily,” she tells Health-e News.

Ledwaba says parents were told as far back as January 2023 that the mobile toilets would be temporary while a new flushing system was installed.

“We were told they were supposed to be cleaned [by outside waste removal contractors] before school re-opening. But nothing was done,” Ledwaba says.

Safety concerns

Parents and school staff told Health-e News the plastic mobile toilets also pose safety risks.

A security guard, who asked not to be named, says a Grade 2 learner was once trapped inside one of the units.

“Police were almost called because the school thought the learner was missing, only to find him sleeping inside the toilet.”

He says the child remained inside for several hours.

“The boy had to inhale the chemicals and waste from the toilet for hours. This can cause complications for the boy in future.”

Damaged toilets and no running water

When Health-e News visited the school on 23 July, the main bathrooms stood abandoned with missing doors and a damaged roof.

The water taps inside the bathrooms were also broken, with no running water available for learners to wash their hands.

The security guard said staff had been told they would begin using a bucket system to flush the blocked toilets because the drainage system had still not been repaired.

He questioned why new classrooms were being built before sanitation was restored.

“There are mobile classrooms available. The school could have rebuilt new toilets first before classrooms. Learners have been suffering way too long,” he says.

MEC announces R27bn infrastructure backlog

Residents raised the issue during a community outreach meeting in June, hosted by Gauteng MEC for Education, Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation, Lebogang Maile as part of the department’s community outreach programme, “It Takes A Village To Raise A Child”, launched in May this year. 

During the meeting, Maile told parents a team will be deployed to assess the facility and possibly get the toilets fixed.

Two months later, parents say the department has not sent a team out to the school yet.

On Monday, 10 August 2026, Maile told journalists during a media briefing that the Gauteng province needs an estimated R27 billion to address occupational health and safety concerns across its school infrastructure.

He was briefing the media on the findings of the “It Takes A Village To Raise A Child” outreach programme. Ablution infrastructure was among the issues identified for attention.

“We need R27 billion to deal with occupational health and safety. We need money, and that’s the problem,” Maile said.

The MEC says the department is prioritising schools facing emergencies, particularly those that are no longer habitable, while looking for alternative ways to raise funds.

If the toilets at Rivhoningo Primary School are not serviced soon, parents threaten to keep their children at home out of concerns for their health and safety.

Kgomotso* is not her real name.