AT LAST, JUSTICE FOR OUR BOY

The Komape family have won in court –but it will never bring back their son who died after falling into a pit toilet

- LESEGO MKHIZE

HE SHOULD be 13 years old now, a boy becoming a teenager, going to school, playing soccer with his friends and with his whole life stretching ahead of him.

Instead Michael Komape will forever be known as the five-year-old who died in a pit latrine, one hand reaching out from a well of unimaginable filth in a heartbreaking – and unanswered – plea for help.

The little boy’s death rocked South Africa and cast fresh light on the country’s appalling rate of service delivery. Something had to be done to prevent another child from dying.

And now his family are hoping that finally pit toilets will be a thing of the past.

After Michael’s death in a dilapidated pit toilet at Mahlodumela Primary School in Limpopo in 2014, the Komape family sued the education department and were awarded R1,4 million in damages.

The department was also ordered to come up with a plan to eradicate thousands of pit latrines and replace them with flushing toilets in nearly 1 500 Limpopo schools.

The department came up with a 14year plan but, driven by public rights group Section27, the case went back to court and the department was recently ordered to revise its plan.

Fourteen years was too long, the Limpopo high court agreed – it was unreasonable and unconstitutional. Children should not have to wait until 2030 to have the dignity of relieving themselves safely and hygienically.

The department has 90 days to submit a revised plan and has to report to the court every six months on its progress in demolishing the toilets.