The area manager of Pep Stores, Thobile Ndabeni, said they have adopted Zwelinzima Primary School in Mthatha.
This was followed by helping the school by solving the toilet issues occurring there.
Learners were forced to use an open field when relieving themselves, owing to the flushing toilets being inoperable.
Ndabeni said they had read about this issue in one of the newspapers, since the problem was covered by different media houses.
“We saw that the dignity of learners was not respected, because when they wanted to relieve themselves they were forced to use an open field.
“We saw that the dignity and the respect of the black child were compromised,” said Ndabeni.
He added that they then went to the regional manager for the Thekwini Region, Santie de Jager, and asked to identify these schools and see what they could do.
“We are Pep Stores due to the support that we get from the community. It is fair that if we can help, we do so. We started a project, but there was no water at this school, so we went to look for water.
“We then procured a new borehole pump so that the school could have water. When that was done, we then saw a bigger need that even the toilets themselves were no longer working,” said Ndabeni.
He added that they felt that they needed to see how best they could ensure that the toilets were working properly.
“We then embarked on making sure that we fixed them. Some were blocked, and some were leaking.
“We engaged Buco Hardware, who came on board with the materials. We invited Phikolomzi Technical Services, who was their technical partner in terms of fixing the actual toilets.”
According to Ndabeni, it took one-and-a-half months to conceptualise, but when they started to fix them, it took only about three weeks.
He said they were visiting the school frequently to check what needed to be done, and to follow up on Phikolomzi Technical Services in partnership with Buco.
He confirmed that they had a Corporate Social Investment (CSI) Programme, which is something they do yearly.
“It is our CSI just to plough back to the community; it is rotating since we have a huge region.
“It means since it was in Mthatha this year, next year it might go to Durban or somewhere else. We split it among the provinces, and by looking at the need that is wanted.
“I can confirm that we are adopting this school on the condition that they look after their toilets. We have a vision of building a playground and also in partnership with Buco to create a signage board that will face the N2.”
The chairperson of the School Governing Body (SGB), Thulani Gana, said they were very happy because their children were struggling, and their lives were at risk.
“We tried to fix it by using money from the maintenance budget from the Department of Education, but it was not enough because the price was very high.
“We stopped fixing it because we were using this money to fix a lot of things in our school, so we did not have enough money.
“We then built four pit latrine toilets. They were also not in good condition, putting the lives of the learners at risk, and we asked them to stop using them due to their condition,” said Gana.
He said they thanked Pep Stores for showing such love, because they did not know what to do any more.
Circuit manager for the Department of Education, Madodomzi Viti, also thanked Pep Stores for showing support when learners were struggling.
“When we say education is a social responsibility, you understood that. It is clear that as the Department of Education alone, we are failing to carry responsibility.
“We thank the business sector for understanding it is not about profit-making only, but it is also about coming to the people and taking part in solving their needs,” said Viti.
