Why mud schools and pit latrines remain a scourge on South Africa's school infrastructure system

Civil society movement Equal Education says school infrastructure remains a challenge in South Africa despite the Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure, which were introduced to improve safety, functionality and equality in education. 

The Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure were established in November 2013 by the Ministry of Basic Education. 

These regulations provided clear deadlines (November 2016, 2020, 2023 and 2030) indicating when public schools had to be provided with basic infrastructure such as water, electricity, classrooms, toilets, and fencing, among others. It also required that all schools made of inappropriate materials like mud, asbestos, metal or wood be fixed by November 2016. 

The deadlines were missed and the new regulations gazetted in May 2024 removed most deadlines and required provincial education departments to submit implementation plans within 90 days of the financial year's start and evaluation reports within 60 days after the year's end.

This resulted in civil society groups expressing concern that the revised regulations weaken accountability and dilute the obligations of the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and provincial education departments.

In the meantime, schools continue to face issues such as overcrowding, dangerous sanitation and poor conditions, which negatively impact the learning environment.

In the letter issued to Minister Siviwe Gwarube in commemoration of the regulations, on Monday, Equal Education said that for over a decade, the movement has witnessed first-hand the stark contrast between this ideal and the daily reality for thousands of learners, particularly in rural provinces such as the Eastern Cape. 

The movement said signing of the Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure promised a new reality.

This was a binding commitment to replace mud schools, pit latrines, and hazardous environments with safe, dignified and conducive places of learning. 

“This law was a beacon of hope, a testament to what could be achieved when the state prioritises the rights of its children. We gather today not to extinguish that hope, but to relight it, for its flame has been systematically dimmed by delay, obfuscation and a troubling retreat from accountability,” said Ona Matshaya, Equal Education’s head in the Eastern Cape. 

Asked if the Minister received the letter and her thoughts regarding the context, the Ministry’s spokesperson, Lukhanyo Vangqa, said questions should be referred to the Eastern Cape Education Department, as the matter is only focused on the province. 

The provincial department did not comment at the time of publication.

In May 2025, Gwarube told Parliament's portfolio committee on Basic Education that since its inception, 331 inappropriate school structures - such as those built from mud or asbestos - had been replaced, and 96% of identified pit toilets had been eradicated. 

Gwarube said, despite this, 139 pit toilets remained, and substantial backlogs persisted. The department indicated that R32 billion was required to provide additional classrooms to 8,222 schools, while a further R14bn would be needed to construct 13,485 toilets.

The department cited poor contractor performance, delays in municipal approvals, natural disasters, and funding shortfalls as key contributors to slow progress. 

Gwarube said a ten-point strategy had been developed to address these structural issues, with emphasis placed on data improvement, project management capacity, and securing R20 billion annually to meet infrastructure targets by 2030.

Matshaya said the 12th anniversary of the Norms and Standards is not a milestone of success, but a stark memorial to promises deferred and justice delayed for a generation of learners.

According to Equal Education, learners at Amos Maphanga Secondary in Benoni, Gauteng, are still waiting for a permanent structure since the school was established with temporary mobile classrooms. The school is severely overcrowded. Two Grade 9 classrooms have fully collapsed, forcing already overcrowded classes to absorb more learners.

At Thandi Eleanor Sibeko Secondary School in Duduza, a school of 1,279 learners is housed entirely in 32 dilapidated mobile classrooms, one of which is unusable. The overcrowding is palpable, with learners scrambling for chairs and sharing desks during exams. The infrastructure is so unsafe that a roof collapsed onto a teacher, leaving both educators and learners in a state of constant fear.  

Eyabantu Senior Secondary, in the Eastern Cape, has been trapped in a devastating cycle of contractor abandonment and infrastructural decay. 

Matshaya said such schools represent the overwhelming norm, where the department’s failure to provide continuous oversight and hold its own contractors accountable leads to half-built structures and shattered hopes.

Gauteng Education spokesperson Steve Mabona referred questions to the Department of Basic Education. 

Matshaya added that during their recent school visits, they have also documented multiple instances of schools with successive tender procurements, yet little to no tangible progress on the ground.

“This crisis has been deliberately deepened by the Department of Basic Education’s own hand. The 2024 amendments to the school infrastructure law systematically stripped away the hard, legally binding deadlines that were the law’s very backbone.

"These deadlines were not arbitrary; they were the engine of accountability, the mechanism designed to ensure steady prioritisation and progress, and hold the state to its word. Their removal has created a policy vacuum where urgency has been replaced by ambiguity, and binding commitments have been downgraded to open-ended aspirations.”

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