Blind and Deaf Learners: Trauma of sharing water with the dead

PICTURE 11_The cemetery where deaf and blind pupils fetch water_Pic By Vicky Abraham

The cemetery where deaf and blind pupils fetch water. Picture by Vicky Abraham.

Blind and Deaf pupils from Setotolwane ELSEN Secondary boarding school in Mankweng, Limpopo have recounted their traumatic experiences of allegedly fetching water from the nearby Mankweng Cemetery for drinking, bathing and flushing clogged toilets when there is no water. 


Partially blind pupils narrated the horror of watching some of their totally blind female schoolmates accidently soiling their hands with human excreta from clogged toilets while groping in darkness to find the toilet seats. 


Unfortunately, they had no choice but to wipe off the excreta from their hands on the toilet walls as there was no water available to wash it off. To rescue them from the shameful situation, their partially blind peers offered them toilet paper to cleanse their soiled hands. 


Deaf girls also lamented about the discomfort of spending the whole day without bathing during their menstruation. Their male peers would attend school without bathing or skip classes. 


Although some completed their matric exams last month and will not return to the school next year, these grisly episodes linger in their memories. 

PICTURE 14_Toilet used by deaf and blind pupils_Pic by Ntokozo Abraham

Toilet used by Deaf and blind pupils. Picture by Ntokozo Abraham.

From taps to tanks and “sharing water with the dead”

The school, which is housed within Hwiti High School, previously relied on the water tanker service provided by the Polokwane Local Municipality. Adjusting to using tanks has not been easy for the pupils, alleging the municipality “comes at their own times,” hence they resorted to fetching water from the cemetery. 


A partially blind 20-year-old female matriculant said, “There is a pipe at the graveyard where we fetch water. We drink that water and cook with it. We need that water.” 


She said, it is: 

“Traumatising. We have lots of thoughts about it, especially about the fact that there are dead people there, we share water with them [the dead] because we have no choice.”
PICTURE 12_The cemetery where deaf and blind pupils fetch water_Pic By Ntokozo Abraham

The cemetery where deaf and blind pupils fetch water. Picture by Vicky Abraham.

On January 29, 2023, distraught blind and Deaf pupils posted a video of themselves on TikTok queuing at the cemetery pouring water in buckets through a pipe from the cemetery’s tap. 


Apparently, since 2023, they have not had running water. They survive on three 5,000-litre refill tanks and a single tap behind the girls’ dormitory. Sometimes the water from the single tap drops to low level. Carrying buckets of water from the tanks at the school entrance and the single tap has become a daily routine for the blind and Deaf pupils. 


The secretary of the Representative Council of Learners (RCL), Thabo Mahlangu (18), a Grade 11 pupil with total blindness said on behalf of the pupils, "It has really been very bad and very terrible. The water situation has been the worst out of all situations we have had so far. We are not happy at all. It is already a norm, but it is not easy to get used to it."  

Pupils alleged the school began buying water from private suppliers to refill the tanks this year. They alleged the move was triggered by their protest dubbed “no school without water and bathing” but the staff dismissed the allegation. 


Although the school now buys water, it is unclear whether the pupils still fetch water from the graveyard. 

No water in toilets and showers

During Diary Series of Deaf People’s investigation on the school, an uninviting stench encompassed the entry of the toilet facilities at the boys’ dormitory, causing one to think twice before entering. The restroom is a four-in-one, comprising dry showers opposite a row of unkempt toilets. As we walked through the passage between the showers and toilets, blobs of urine were on the tiles leading us to the urinal flowing with urine on the floor. 


Although the stench was unbearable in the dried-out shower rooms, every morning the blind and Deaf pupils’ bath in their plastic bathtubs and brush their teeth there. 


Above the boys’ restrooms was a damaged ceiling with pigeons nesting inside. 


Some of the large pigeons were cooing in the roof, whilst others were violently flapping their wings as our team walked in. It was hard to enter the girls’ restrooms after our sad encounter in the boys’ toilets. 

Mahlangu explained:

“Coping with the stench is very simple [but] it is terrible and irritating because you have to be quick. It is a quick in and out situation because you are inhaling the stench while brushing your teeth at the same time. It is uncomfortable.”

Blind pupils soiling hands with excreta

Partially blind and Deaf pupils said their totally blind peers are highly vulnerable when there is no water. 


The partially blind matriculant who spoke about fetching water from the cemetery, recalled helping a totally blind pupil to remove faeces from her hands with a toilet paper. 


A partially blind matriculant recalled:

“It was not pleasing. The poor kid was so scared. She mistakenly touched the wall and rubbed the poo on it. We [girls] wiped her hands with a tissue. There was nothing else we could do. We had no water.” 

She said totally blind pupils use their hands to sense objects “so, they would stick their hands in the toilet and would mistakenly touch the poo because they are trying to find the seats." 


A staffer revealed that “the cleaners would wash off the faeces from the toilet walls.” 


An 18-year-old Deaf Grade 12 pupil said, "When I was on my period, I needed water to bath, and there was none. I am not happy about the situation." 

Chicken pox outbreak 

The school has at least 259 pupils, including those with albinism. Of the 259 pupils, 168 are said to be Deaf, 51 blind, and 40 partially blind. The 40, includes pupils with albinism. The boarding houses 254 learners. 


Before April 17, the school had 260 pupils, the number reduced to 259 after the death of a 14-year-old Deaf pupil, Tebogo Williams. Members of the School Governing Body (SGB) alleged her death followed an outbreak of “chicken pox and overcrowding at the school.” However, an environmental health practitioner’s investigative report does not confirm the alleged circumstances behind her death. 


According to documents seen, William died on April 17. 

Pupils protest for water

Around the date of William’s death, a partially blind pupil appointed as the president of the RCL, Solomon Mabula (19), declared a “no go to school without water and without bathing rule” protest, demanding the school to buy water to refill the tanks as the little water they had could not accommodate everyone. 


It is understood that a day before the protest, the single tap supplying the whole school with water was only releasing drops. It later dried out and so were the tanks. Mabula echoed other learners that the school allegedly started buying water to refill the tanks on the day of the protest. They lamented to this publication that the water from the tanks is contaminated and causes diarrhoea. 


An insider alleged that the school sacrifices its grocery funds to refill the water tanks. But it is unclear how much they spend. 

Relocation to Hwiti High School

On April 12, 2016, the Limpopo Department of Education allegedly removed the learners and teachers from their old premises in Mashashane to Hwiti High School. This was after an instruction from the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education in national parliament to “urgently” relocate them after the old premises was declared “unsafe for human habitation” in 2015. 


Both schools are separated by a fence but share the same water meter. However, Hwiti High School has a steady supply of running water, while Setotolwane ELSEN does not. As a result, the learners and staff have grown accustomed to living without access to tap water.

Municipality water connection

An SGB member, Robert Maake said, "Our school has been without water for quite a long time, but when we contacted the Polokwane Local Municipality, they told us that they do not know us because the premises we are occupying belong to Hwiti High School." 


He added that the Limpopo Department of Education had promised to drill a borehole, but no progress had been made at the time of the interview. Following our teams’ interviews with the municipality and the department, on November 30, the department’s team was dispatched to commence with the water and maintenance project. The department has scheduled a meeting with the school for December 13 concerning the project. 


The SGB said the municipality resumed refilling the school’s tanks during the first stages of our teams’ investigations, “but they would arrive when we have already bought water.” 


During Diary Series of Deaf People’s visit to the Polokwane Local Municipality’s offices, spokesperson Thipa Selala said, “The school was getting water before through Hwiti but it might be that the line [pipe] that they are connecting to [to obtain water from Hwiti] might have a problem. They must fix that line and identify the problem.” 


He further suggested Setotolwane ELSEN to apply for a separate meter “then we can start to bill them from that meter.” 


Selala said the municipality was providing water to the school through its water tankers’ service as a temporary relief for water disruption. 


Selala said: 

“We only supply water through water tankers if there is a water disruption, for example, when there is a pipe leak somewhere and then there is no water. But we prioritise hospitals before we go to other stakeholders.” 

PICTURE 7_A worker fetching water from the water tank. Picture by Vicky Abraham.

A worker fetching water from the water tank. Picture by Vicky Abraham.

Selala said the municipality cannot refill the school’s tanks every day, but assured this publication they will urgently address the situation. 


The principal of Hwiti High School declined to comment. Following our team’s visit to the Department of Education on November 20, spokesperson Mosebjane Kgaffe said, "A contractor has been appointed and started work on Monday [November 25] to do maintenance work at the current school location." 


The SGB said their concerns go beyond these repairs:

"We do not just want them to fix the toilets or drill a borehole; we want to relocate to a new safe building for the kids and teachers. The makeshift classrooms are unsustainable." 

 Kgaffe said:

"A new site in town has been identified and the project has been handed over to the provincial Department of Public Works and work has started: to plan for the building of a new school in Polokwane town." 

The Setotolwane ELSEN Secondary School reporting project is supported by the Henry Nxumalo Foundation. 

By Ntokozo Abraham

Economic Journalist & Managing Editor

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