A group of Parkwood parents protested on Thursday over toilets, saying they want the Western Cape Education Department to fix severely vandalised loos at Parkwood Primary instead of providing them with portable toilets.
Last week, skelms started a fire and vandalised the skool, leading to toilets being flooded.
The school has since installed portable toilets. But community leader and pastor, Paul Philips, says this is a health risk for the laaities.
“Those toilets are nothing but a bucket system. It has a septic tank, the waste does not flush away and it stands in the heat.”
According to Philips, there is no clear indication of how frequently the waste is collected.
“It needs to be cleaned out, we don’t know when they are going to come to clean it out. It's like the old balie system where you have the bucket underneath,” he explains.
Dad Rahaad Allen, 51, tells the Daily Voice that he is very unhappy about the toilets.
“I think we as parents are being too patient. It seems our humbleness is our weakness.”
The group handed over a memorandum to the palie with a list of demands.
WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond insists that the situation is being remedied.
“The toilets are a temporary and necessary measure given the damages incurred to the ablution facilities as a result of a fire.
“The damages to these facilities were beyond our control and we are addressing the needs of the school,” she explains.
Hammond says there is a Preventative Maintenance Project currently under way.
“This project will accommodate the repairs required to the fire-damaged ablutions, as well as the professional removal of asbestos debris.”