By Lebone Rodah Mosima
It has taken six years for the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education (KZNDOE) to address sanitation challenges affecting over 1 000 pupils at Mthiyaqhwa High School, located in the Madiyane area of Nkandla, within the King Cetshwayo District.
Classes were suspended at the school last week after an inspection by the district municipality’s environment and health services found the sanitation and structural conditions at the school were non-compliant and not fit for children or adults.
The school’s principal, Zulu Zwelabo, told Inside Education that the school has an enrolment of 1 016 learners but received only six chemical toilets on Thursday as a temporary measure, following what he said were about six years of delays in addressing basic infrastructure needs.
“This is far below the department’s own norms and standards on infrastructure. At the height of Covid-19, a commitment was made to deliver decent sanitation facilities,” Zwelabo said.
“The contractor was appointed and didn’t complete everything, not even a single one.”
Zwelabo said the school still has asbestos classrooms despite long-standing decisions to remove them, and faces an infrastructure backlog that includes crumbling walls.
More needed to be done than the current “PR exercise”, he said.
The KZNDOE said on Friday that its district infrastructure team held engagements with the Independent Development Trust (IDT), and that an “immediate intervention was implemented to ensure that teaching and learning are not disrupted” at the school.
The IDT delivers social infrastructure and social development programme management services on behalf of government.
The department said it had provided chemical toilets and prioritised basic sanitation needs “without delay”.
“The IDT confirmed its commitment to deliver the chemical toilets by the morning of 29 January 2026,” the department said.
“We confirm that the chemical toilets have since been delivered to Mthiyaqhwa High School, ensuring that learners and educators have access to adequate sanitation facilities while longer-term infrastructure solutions are being addressed.”
Zwelabo said the department only responded after the school received the emergency health risk notice ordering it to suspend operations until alternative sanitation arrangements were made.
The KZNDOE did not respond to questions about the cost of the toilets or other terms of the contract.
INSIDE EDUCATION
