Johannesburg – More than 1 000 learners at La Rochelle Primary School in Johannesburg have been left without access to safe and hygienic toilets for over two years, disrupting teaching and learning and raising urgent concerns about the Gauteng Department of Education’s (GDE) handling of school infrastructure.
The school’s main restrooms have been out of order since 2023. In response, the department supplied mobile pit toilets, but parents say these are unhygienic, often go uncleaned for long periods, and have allegedly caused infections among some children.
During an oversight visit this month, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said the situation had now escalated to the point where schooling has “completely ground to a halt.” The party’s Gauteng spokesperson for education said:
“The failure to address this longstanding problem, which has led to further deterioration to the point where schooling has ground to a halt, is unacceptable. It reveals how little regard the Premier Panyaza Lesufi-led government has for our learners and teachers.”
The DA added that on 3 September 2025, an official from MEC Matome Chiloane’s office assured parents that flushable toilets would be delivered to the school, but “to date, not a single unit has been delivered.”
The party confirmed it has already submitted questions to MEC Chiloane in the provincial legislature and would continue to do so, citing “numerous additional allegations of corruption” at the school.
The GDE has not yet provided a timeline for when permanent sanitation facilities will be restored.
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