During his first week at school, five-year-old Michael Komape drowned in a pit latrine in northern South Africa.
That day in January 2014 will be one his father James Komape will never forget.
As he takes me back to the school in Chebeng village, where the tragedy struck, his pain is palpable.
“When I arrived at the opening of the toilet hole all I could see was a small hand,” he says.
“Some people were standing looking into the hole, no-one had thought to take him out. It’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen.
“No-one should die like that.”
He pauses for a moment before continuing.
“He must have been trying to call for help to maybe even climb out. It’s hard to accept that my son died alone and probably afraid.”
Mr Komape struggles to make eye contact.
Instead he fixes his eyes on the neat row of brick toilet stalls, which were built after his son died in the toilet of rusty corrugated iron just metres away.
The iron sheet that had served as the seat collapsed when Michael sat on it. He fell in, along with the seat and its white plastic lid, the authorities said.
But this is not a one-off problem affecting one school.
While access to proper sanitation is a basic human right enshrined in South Africa’s constitution, many pupils have no choice but to use pit toilets.
South Africa’s school pit latrines
■ More than 4,500 schools have pit latrine toilets
■ Many are made from cheap metal, are shoddily built and left uncovered
■ Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo provinces are among the worst, says Education Minister Angie Motshekga
■ Eastern Cape has 61 schools with no toilets at all, and 1,585 schools with pit latrines
■ Neighbouring KwaZulu-Natal province has 1,379 pit latrines in use
■ Limpopo province, where Michael Komape went to school, has at least 932 unsafe toilets.
Source: BBC news
