In Mpumalanga, where promises of dignity, education, and healthcare are made each year in budget speeches and political campaigns, a very different reality exists on the ground.
Thousands of children go to school every day without access to safe toilets or running water. Healthcare workers in rural clinics are forced to operate without even the most basic sanitation infrastructure. In 2025, access to something as simple as a working tap remains a luxury in many parts of this province.
This is not just about broken infrastructure. It is about human dignity, health, safety, and the provincial government’s continued failure to meet its constitutional obligations.
Mpumalanga still has schools where learners must use pit toilets, and where water shortages have delayed the replacement of these dangerous and degrading structures. Across the province, schools in areas such as Dr JS Moroka, Mkhondo, Nkomazi, Thembisile Hani, and Bushbuckridge are still reliant on unsafe and undignified sanitation systems.
In some rural clinics, healthcare workers are forced to fetch water with buckets, and pit toilets are still in use. These are not temporary glitches, they are permanent features of facilities that are supposed to care for the most vulnerable members of our society.
This situation is particularly cruel for young girls. Many are forced to stay home during their menstrual cycles due to the lack of private, hygienic facilities. In a province already burdened by high dropout rates, poor sanitation is silently pushing more children, particularly girls, out of the education system.
What makes this crisis even more unacceptable is that the provincial Department of Education has sent hundreds of millions of rands back to Treasury in recent years. This is money that could have been used to install flushing toilets, repair water infrastructure, and restore dignity to our learners and educators.
While learners in Kwamhlanga, Kanyamazane, and Siyabuswa continue to relieve themselves in collapsing pit latrines or the surrounding bushes, the government continues to underspend on infrastructure. This is not a funding problem, it is a failure of leadership and accountability.Â
The Constitution guarantees everyone the right to access water, healthcare, and a basic education in a safe and dignified environment. Yet in Mpumalanga, these rights remain out of reach for far too many.
The national promise to eradicate pit toilets in schools has not been fulfilled. And in this province, that failure is most glaring. The government has had years to act, but communities are still waiting.
In the face of ongoing neglect, communities across Mpumalanga are stepping in where government has failed. In some areas, parents take turns filling JoJo tanks so learners can have access to drinking water. In others, school governing bodies have been forced to dig makeshift toilets just to avoid daily health risks for children.
Traditional leaders, educators, and local councillors raise these issues during integrated development planning meetings and public hearings. But they are met with silence, excuses, and endless delays. People in Bushbuckridge, Gert Sibande, and Ehlanzeni continue to live like second-class citizens in their own province.
This situation cannot continue. Pit toilets are not just unsafe; they are an insult to our people. The absence of water in clinics and schools is not just a shortcoming, it is a threat to life and dignity. The people of Mpumalanga deserve better.
ActionSA demands the following:
- A full, public audit of all schools and clinics in Mpumalanga without access to water and sanitation, broken down by district.
- Immediate provision of water tanks, mobile toilets, and hygiene kits to all affected facilities in rural and peri-urban areas.
- A dedicated sanitation and water infrastructure budget with quarterly performance reports presented to the Legislature.
- A forensic investigation into the underspending of infrastructure budgets and consequences for any mismanagement.
- Strategic partnerships with qualified engineers, NGOs, and sanitation experts to deploy safe facilities rapidly and sustainably.
- Immediate consequences for underperforming officials and contractors, including suspension and termination where necessary.
This is not just a governance issue, it is a moral one. No child should have to choose between education and safety. No nurse should have to treat patients without clean water. No community should have to plead for the bare minimum.
Children in Dr JS Moroka deserve toilets that flush. Nurses in Mapulaneng deserve taps that run. Families in Mkhondo, Bushbuckridge, and Nkomazi deserve dignity. This is not a technical issue, it is a political one. And it requires political will and action, not more excuses.
ActionSA will continue to fight for dignity and justice in every part of this province, in Legislature, in communities, and in every platform available to us. Because access to water is not a favour. It is a right. And dignity is non-negotiable.
No Water, No Dignity: Basic Sanitation Remains Elusive in Mpumalanga Schools
In Mpumalanga, where promises of dignity, education, and healthcare are made each year in budget speeches and political campaigns, a very different reality exists on the ground.
Thousands of children go to school every day without access to safe toilets or running water. Healthcare workers in rural clinics are forced to operate without even the most basic sanitation infrastructure. In 2025, access to something as simple as a working tap remains a luxury in many parts of this province.
This is not just about broken infrastructure. It is about human dignity, health, safety, and the provincial government’s continued failure to meet its constitutional obligations.
Mpumalanga still has schools where learners must use pit toilets, and where water shortages have delayed the replacement of these dangerous and degrading structures. Across the province, schools in areas such as Dr JS Moroka, Mkhondo, Nkomazi, Thembisile Hani, and Bushbuckridge are still reliant on unsafe and undignified sanitation systems.
In some rural clinics, healthcare workers are forced to fetch water with buckets, and pit toilets are still in use. These are not temporary glitches, they are permanent features of facilities that are supposed to care for the most vulnerable members of our society.
This situation is particularly cruel for young girls. Many are forced to stay home during their menstrual cycles due to the lack of private, hygienic facilities. In a province already burdened by high dropout rates, poor sanitation is silently pushing more children, particularly girls, out of the education system.
What makes this crisis even more unacceptable is that the provincial Department of Education has sent hundreds of millions of rands back to Treasury in recent years. This is money that could have been used to install flushing toilets, repair water infrastructure, and restore dignity to our learners and educators.
While learners in Kwamhlanga, Kanyamazane, and Siyabuswa continue to relieve themselves in collapsing pit latrines or the surrounding bushes, the government continues to underspend on infrastructure. This is not a funding problem, it is a failure of leadership and accountability.Â
The Constitution guarantees everyone the right to access water, healthcare, and a basic education in a safe and dignified environment. Yet in Mpumalanga, these rights remain out of reach for far too many.
The national promise to eradicate pit toilets in schools has not been fulfilled. And in this province, that failure is most glaring. The government has had years to act, but communities are still waiting.
In the face of ongoing neglect, communities across Mpumalanga are stepping in where government has failed. In some areas, parents take turns filling JoJo tanks so learners can have access to drinking water. In others, school governing bodies have been forced to dig makeshift toilets just to avoid daily health risks for children.
Traditional leaders, educators, and local councillors raise these issues during integrated development planning meetings and public hearings. But they are met with silence, excuses, and endless delays. People in Bushbuckridge, Gert Sibande, and Ehlanzeni continue to live like second-class citizens in their own province.
This situation cannot continue. Pit toilets are not just unsafe; they are an insult to our people. The absence of water in clinics and schools is not just a shortcoming, it is a threat to life and dignity. The people of Mpumalanga deserve better.
ActionSA demands the following:
This is not just a governance issue, it is a moral one. No child should have to choose between education and safety. No nurse should have to treat patients without clean water. No community should have to plead for the bare minimum.
Children in Dr JS Moroka deserve toilets that flush. Nurses in Mapulaneng deserve taps that run. Families in Mkhondo, Bushbuckridge, and Nkomazi deserve dignity. This is not a technical issue, it is a political one. And it requires political will and action, not more excuses.
ActionSA will continue to fight for dignity and justice in every part of this province, in Legislature, in communities, and in every platform available to us. Because access to water is not a favour. It is a right. And dignity is non-negotiable.