Days before school reopens, the Joy Mungungu Senior Primary School at Rundu is left without functional toilets.
This comes after the donor pulled out due to a breach of the agreement.
The primary school was established by community members before government intervention.
During inception, the school survived on donations.
In 2021, Flushh, donated portable toilets, which catered for 350 learners and 14 teachers.
The company in 2023 donated six more eco toilets as the school population grew to 900 learners.
Acting Head of Department at the Joy Mungungu SPS Marseliuse Haivera explained.
“When we were under trees, we started engaging the media seeking for assistance. That is when some individuals, some businesses people came on board to see what kind of help can they give us or render to the school. That is where the business by the name Flushh toilets came on board to donate toilets to the school. Three years back. They invited the regional office, ministry of education. They invited even the media and other stakeholders. We were very happy, we were excited.”
According to Haivera, after a year the donor started demanding for service payments and requesting learners to pay a fee of four dollars each per month, after they have pledged to offer services for free.
He shared that the school was not informed about the collection of the toilets by the donor.
“Now doing this kind of thing during the holiday while people are not there, we are opening next week with learners and we are going to start on Thursday this week as teachers. The impact is huge. As you can see we cleared all the bushes from the school ground and we have a fence now. Back then learners use to sneak out and go to the bushes out there and relief themselves, but now there is a fence.”
Contacted for comment CEO of Flushh Kaveto Tjatjara shared that he pledged to service the toilets for free when the learners were 350.
But as the number increased, his company could not afford it anymore.
The company also provided toilet paper, sanitiser, and other consumables needed to keep the toilets hygienic.
Tjatjara raised the concern that the school did not fulfil its agreement.
“The school was responsible for a small service fee, clearly agreed upon in our memorandum of understanding, of only N$3 per month. The reason the toilets were moved is that the school didn't pay the agreed upon service fee for over a year to make sure that the toilets were maintained properly in a clean and hygienic manner. So leaving them there without proper maintenance isn't safe. It's a risk for students because the toilets could become unhygienic, and it's a waste. So the company clearly acted responsibly by removing the eco-toilets following our safety standards agreed upon with the school board,” he added.
The school is left with a toilet block, which has low water pressure and is not enough to cater for about one 1,500 learners.