At least 3,661 public schools across the country still lack reliable water and good sanitation, yet the National Department of Basic Education refuses to set a firm elimination deadline. Despite infrastructure grants of R50bn over the medium term, funding has not been secured, raising concerns that a crisis that has been building for more than a decade will continue.
More than 3,000 public schools still lack reliable access to running water and adequate sanitation that meets the minimum criteria and standards for public school infrastructure, and the Department of National Education will not set any timeline for addressing this.
This is according to a parliamentary answer From Basic Education Minister Sivivi Gwarube. Using provincial reports, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) said 1,366 schools depend on mobile tanks or other temporary water supplies, while 2,295 schools require replacement or upgrading of sanitation facilities that “do not meet minimum norms and standards.” Overall, this means that 3,661 schools have been identified as in need of water or sanitation interventions.
KwaZulu-Natal has 1,498 affected schools (40.9% of the national backlog), followed by 1,028 schools in the Eastern Cape (28.1%) and 595 schools in Limpopo (16.3%). There are 230 schools in Mpumalanga (6.3%), 148 in the North West (4.0%), 69 in the Western Cape (1.9%), 42 in the Free State, 26 in the Northern Cape (0.7%) and 25 in Gauteng (0.7%).
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The DBE confirmed the Education Infrastructure Grant (EIG) for the 2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework, totaling R49.954-billion. That amount is divided over three years – R16.257-billion in 2026/27, R16.590-billion in 2027/28 and R17.106-billion in 2028/29. KwaZulu-Natal…