SOPA 2026 | 427 Eastern Cape schools still use pit toilets

The Eastern Cape government will this year speed up its efforts to eradicate hundreds of pit latrines in provincial schools, with the province setting an ambitious target of doing away with 300 such structures during this financial year. Premier Oscar Mabuyane on Thursday revealed there are 427 schools that continue to use unsafe and unhygienic toilet structures, some of which have claimed young lives. Delivering his second state of the province address in the seventh term of governance at the Bhisho legislature, Mabuyane conceded 427 schools with pit toilets “pose a serious risk to the lives of pupils”.

“Our intention is to protect our children and provide them with dignity,” he said. Mabuyane acknowledged the province has 458 schools “built with inappropriate material.” In 2025, government completed the construction of 25 new schools in the Eastern Cape. Last month, the province marked the start of the 2026 academic year by officially opening the state-of-the-art Sitoza Senior Secondary School in the Dr AB Xuma municipality.

Mabuyane said in 2026 the construction of 57 schools will be completed for handover to communities. These include Lupindo Senior Secondary in Alfred Nzo, David Livingstone High in Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, Upper Corana in OR Tambo, Jongulwandle in Amathole, and Khanyisa Special School in the Chris Hani district. “It’s a tall order we are attending to with the seriousness it deserves,” Mabuyane said. Less than a year ago, the Eastern Cape came under heavy scrutiny after it missed its deadline to eradicate pit latrines in schools flagged to have unsafe toilets, forcing hundreds of pupils in nearly 100 schools to relieve themselves in the open or in unsafe structures.