Mvula Trust, a non-government organisation, is blaming the Limpopo Department of Education for the delay in the eradication of pit toilets at schools in the province.
The NGO, which has been appointed as the implementing agent for government infrastructure, was tabling its report before the Limpopo Portfolio Committee on Education and Public Works in Polokwane.
The Department has been struggling to eradicate pit toilets, with over 2000 schools across the province still relying on pit latrines, while others have no infrastructure.
Mvula Trust CEO, Silas Mbedzi, says more needs to be done to improve the situation.
“The monies are there, that’s why we are busy implementing projects for the eradication of pit latrines on behalf of the Department of Basic Education at a national level, where we’re doing very well. But when it comes to financial allocation and decision making, particularly at the provincial level within Limpopo, that’s where the problem lies wherein decisions take too long to be made, where the release of funding is never confirmed. The end result is we cannot move ahead until the funding has been confirmed by the Department of Education within the province,” says Mbedzi.
In response, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Education and Public Works in the Limpopo Legislature, Susani Mathye, says the legislature will intervene to ensure that the projects are completed on time.
“It takes long for the Department to approve the budget for the implementation of all the projects. We take the project to the implementing agencies, but when it comes to approval of the budget, we take long. It is wrong. We have to change the system. Changing the system, it means we have to go back to the legislature to come up with resolutions that will eradicate some of the red tapes. And again, the money that we give to our implementing agencies, to us as the committee is too small for them to can finish the project at the required time,” says Mathye.
