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For nine months, since May 2025, Kgorathuto Secondary School in Botshabelo in the Free State had ongoing water shortages, making the toilets unusable.
Learners arrived at school for registers to be taken, and were then sent home.
“We cannot be satisfied that our kids don’t get an education. Teachers are getting paid to work, yet they don’t do their work because each day after morning prayers, kids are let to leave. This has been happening for a long time, and it needs to stop”, says a parent, Mpho Tseisi.
Following numerous demonstrations staged by parents, the municipality finally put temporary measures in place last week by providing a JoJo tank.
This week, the learners are back at school, but conditions remain far from ideal.
Meager Moshodi, a parent and community member, says it’s difficult to expect schooling to carry on as normal while there are no basic services. “The school management team must take full responsibility for the situation. This is wrong,” Moshodi says.
Activist Isly Makhanya says the school should be closed.
“Standard operating procedure doesn’t allow a school to operate if there are no basic services. The Department of Labour should close the school and the municipality will make arrangements.”
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Municipality responds
Vusi Sogaqa, a member of the mayoral committee responsible for infrastructure, says water issues in the area need to be investigated.
“We couldn’t just come to the school or to our parents without real answers. We attended water challenges faced by Kgorathuto High School and the surrounding community in Botshabelo.”
These include fixing leaking toilets through our Masupatsela War on Leaks Project and donating a 10,000-litre JoJo tank. Our water truck will be stationed at the school during this period when our technical team is on a fact-finding mission to get to the bottom of why part of D Section is experiencing low water pressure,” he says.
The entire community is affected
A teacher at the school, David Malope, accuses the municipality of ignoring the fact that the entire area of Section D in Botshabelo has suffered from water shortages.
“The ward councillor stays in this area. Why did she not call for tankers for schools and a clinic in the area? We are led by people who don’t care,” he says. “We have had water problems at our school since last year. We’ve had parents complaining, and some have gone to the municipality.”
At Mpolokeng Primary School, members of the school governing body (SGB) use their own money to rent a pick-up van to fetch water for their toilets and cooking.
“Each week we use about R2000 to fill up our 5000 litre tank so we are able to cook and use our toilets. We have pleaded with the children to use the water sparingly,” says Joyce Seecoi.
Free State Education Department spokesperson, Howard Ndaba, says the department informed the municipality about the issue in May 2025, and is concerned about the time wasted.
“We are happy that Mangaung Metro has gone to meet with both parents and teachers of Kgorathuto High School. We believe there will be a solution that will last long. The MEC of education wants all schools to have functioning toilets and an actively working school nutrition programme,” says Ndaba.
Kgorathuto Secondary had to suspend preparing meals for its school nutrition programme.
“The shortage of water makes our lives a living hell. Some children don’t have food, and they hope to have their only meal at school, but they are unable to because we do not have water,” says 18-year-old learner, Moeketsi Maibi. – Health-e News
