Human Rights Commission visits school where learners use playground as a loo

The boys’ toilets at Van Coller Primary School in Komani, Eastern Cape, being repaired on Monday. Photo: Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

The South African Human Rights Commission visited Van Coller Primary in Komani, Eastern Cape, on Monday to inspect conditions at the school.

This follows a GroundUp report that parents protested and forced the school to close after its toilets had not functioned for six years. Learners have been relieving themselves on the playground. The school has more than 500 learners from grades R to 7.

Eastern Cape legal officer Brandon Ainslie said the commission will continue monitoring the situation.

“I spoke with the principal and parents who were present, and I also walked around the school to observe the conditions firsthand,” said Ainslie. “While I cannot provide a full report at this stage as the investigation is ongoing, I witnessed two girls and two boys relieving themselves in the playground, in full view of others. I also observed poor conditions in the toilets, including a lack of running water and sinks without taps.”

Parents told GroundUp that the education department had promised for three years to fix the toilets.

Learners returned to school on Monday since the shutdown last week. This follows ongoing repairs to the toilets with some toilets now unblocked and being shared by boys and girls. Access to the toilets is being monitored by a kitchen staff member.

“We did not want to keep our children at home for too long because we don’t want them to miss lessons,” said parent Bulelani Qowa.

Qowa said last week it was decided to use the school maintenance budget to repair the toilets. He said they were also waiting for the Chris Hani District Municipality to resolve problems with the water supply.

Provincial education department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said the school received R28,629 for maintenance in 2025 but not a cent was spent. The school budget this year was R53,990. He said the department will send auditors to the school because there were complaints about a lack of transparency by school management.

At a meeting last week with teachers and parents, he said, complaints included broken windows, classrooms without doors, exposed electricity cables, uncut grass and a lack of fencing.

He said the Department of Public Works was contacted for assistance with some of these issues.

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