18 Limpopo schools to get flush loos

Johannesburg – Eighteen flushing toilets will be installed at a primary school in Chebeng village, Polokwane, where a pupil died in a pit toilet this week.

Deputy Human Settlements Minister Zou Kota-Fredericks said on Friday four toilets had already been built and 16 temporary toilets were brought in for the 190 pupils at the school.

The rest of the toilets were expected to be completed in two weeks.

She was part of the inter-governmental team visiting the Mahlodumela Primary School and the family of six-year-old Michael Komape.

“There is a system in place [to ensure] that the same incident does not happen again. Michael’s death was a wake-up call for us,” she said.

Recovery process

The department had allocated R781m to improve sanitation at 868 schools across the country, she said and the government would also pay for Komape’s funeral.

“We cannot give back their child, but we can be part of their recovery process.”

The pupils and teachers would receive counselling, which the government would pay for.

The pit toilets had since been closed, said Kota-Fredericks.

Equal Education chairperson Yoliswa Dwane said on Thursday that the 2011 National Education Infrastructure Management System Report showed most schools across the country still had inadequate sanitation.

Sanitation

“Of the 24 793 public ordinary schools, 11 450 schools are still using pit latrine toilets and 2 402 schools have no water supply, while a further 2 611 schools have an unreliable water supply.”

Dwane said after more than three years of campaigning by Equal Education, the legally binding regulations for minimum norms and standards for school infrastructure were adopted by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga in November 2013.

“The regulations say all schools must have sanitation facilities that are easily accessible to all learners and must provide privacy and security, promote health and hygiene standards and be maintained in good working order.

Tthe SA Human Rights Commission said on Wednesday it would investigate sanitation in schools across Limpopo.

SAPA

2000 bikers gear up for e-toll protest

Johannesburg – About 2 000 motorcyclists will protest against e-tolls in Johannesburg on Saturday, said the city’s metro police.

The protest would start at 09:00 in Wemmer Pan Road, Rosettenville, said metro police spokesperson Wayne Minnaar.

It would proceed to Oak street, the N12 and then the N1. The N3 south and the N12 west would also be affected.

Minnaar warned motorists that traffic would be disrupted.

He said the protest would be monitored until midday.

SAPA

One dead, 1 injured in a car crash

Durban – A man died and one was injured when a truck and two cars collided on the N2 near the Tongaat toll plaza, in KwaZulu-Natal, on Friday evening, paramedics said.

A car collided with the truck, veered off the road and crashed into another car, said Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha.

A man in his 40s was declared dead on the scene and another man suffered minor injuries. He was treated on the scene before taken to hospital.

Traffic on both the north and south bound carriageways was disrupted, said Botha. SAPA

Dept of Education bemoans death of pupils

Johannesburg – The education department was saddened by the death of two primary school-going brothers, spokesperson Phumla Sekhonyane said on Friday.

The boys from the Nqubela Primary School in Thokoza were killed in a car accident in Ekurhuleni on Friday morning, Sekhonyane said.

Ekurhuleni emergency services spokesperson William Mohale-Ntladi said a car ploughed into the boys at an intersection between Palm Ridge and Eden Park.

Two other schoolboys were critically injured and four other people seriously injured in the accident.

The car allegedly failed to stop at the intersection and hit another car, which then knocked over four boys who were standing on the pavement waiting for their transport to school.

SAPA

Dept of Education bemoans death of pupils

Johannesburg – The education department was saddened by the death of two primary school-going brothers, spokesperson Phumla Sekhonyane said on Friday.

The boys from the Nqubela Primary School in Thokoza were killed in a car accident in Ekurhuleni on Friday morning, Sekhonyane said.

Ekurhuleni emergency services spokesperson William Mohale-Ntladi said a car ploughed into the boys at an intersection between Palm Ridge and Eden Park.

Two other schoolboys were critically injured and four other people seriously injured in the accident.

The car allegedly failed to stop at the intersection and hit another car, which then knocked over four boys who were standing on the pavement waiting for their transport to school.

SAPA

E-tolls not affected by evacuation

Johannesburg – The SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) system was not affected by the evacuation of its operations centre in Centurion on Friday, it said.

“Another incident has occurred at the Central Operations Centre this afternoon. It should be noted that the system is fully operational and that only the call centre services are affected,” Sanral said in a statement.

Electronic Toll Collection, whose staff occupy the building, would issue a statement later.

Gauteng police said two people had to be quarantined after another anthrax scare at the operations centre.

“The Sanral offices were evacuated after an anthrax scare and we have specialists on the scene to see if the white powder found was anthrax,” said police spokesperson Katlego Mogale.

“Two people have been quarantined and taken to hospital.”

Mogale said more details were not available.

On Tuesday, Sanral said the Gauteng highway tolling system was disrupted when Sanral’s operations centre in Pretoria had to be evacuated.

Spokesperson Vusi Mona could not say how the system was disrupted.

“Our priority is to ensure the safety of the people who work at the central operations centre,” he said at the time.

The Tshwane hazardous material unit was called to the centre on Monday afternoon after a “suspicious envelope containing a white substance” was found on the premises.

This resulted in the shutdown of electricity and the evacuation of the building.

Mona said Sanral took the matter seriously and condemned this type of action because it was “tantamount to sabotage and borders on a very serious crime”.

On Wednesday, Sanral said the substance found in the envelope was not dangerous.

Thirty-seven people were decontaminated and hospitalised as a precaution. All of them had been discharged by Wednesday morning.

At the time, CEO Nazir Alli said the evacuation did not compromise the toll collection process and that the toll gantries remained operational.