Write for Rights: Unecebo Mboteni – No justice for toddler who died in a pit toilet

More than a year has passed since three-year-old Unecebo Mboteni died after falling into a pit toilet at school, yet his parents are still waiting for justice and for those responsible to be held accountable, Amnesty International South Africa said. 

This year, Amnesty International South Africa is fighting for justice for Unecebo and his family as part of its 2025 global Write for Rights campaign.

On 18 April 2024, Unecebo Mboteni fell into a pit toilet at his pre-school, Little Champions Day Care Centre, in the Eastern Cape. He was rushed to hospital but sadly died the next day. 

“It is outrageous that Unecebo died after falling  in a pit toilet surrounded by faeces and urine and to this day no one, including the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the Little Champions Day Care Centre, have taken sufficient responsibility for the incident. Unecebo’s parents are not even sure if the pit toilet he was found in has been removed, they told us they have not received any communication from the school or DBE since burying their child,” Amnesty International South Africa Executive Director Shenilla Mohamed said.

Following his death, Unecebo’s parents, Loyiso and Andwisa, went to the police station to open a case into his death. Earlier this year, they received a call from the investigating officer requesting access to the doctor’s report. The officer then also mentioned that it could take three to four years for the police to do a thorough investigation into Unecebo’s death.

Andwisa said: “We have not received any answers about what happened that day… Everyone is quiet. Unecebo was just a three-year-old child, he was not meant to be using a pit toilet. Sometimes you don’t know how you’ll be able to carry the weight. We only need justice for our child.”

Amnesty International South Africa is calling on the DBE to work with the South African Police Service to expedite the investigation into Unecebo’s death to ensure those responsible are held accountable. 

“It is outrageous that the police investigations will take three to four years to complete. We cannot allow Unecebo’s death to be buried in silence or his case forgotten in the shadows. Unecebo and his family deserve justice — and nothing less,” said Shenilla Mohamed.

Since 2018, Unecebo has been the third child to be found in a pit toilet in the Eastern Cape. In March 2023, little four-year-old Langalam Viki, a preschooler, was found dead in a pit toilet. In 2018, five-year-old Lumka Mkhethwa drowned in a pit toilet at Luna Primary School. Yet the senseless loss of these young lives has not been enough to ensure the eradication of all pit toilets in schools in the province.

Plain pit toilets were banned from South African schools by the Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards for Public School Infrastructure in 2013 and had to be removed and replaced by 2016. The Department of Basic Education has been promising since 2016 that it would eradicate all plain pit toilets from schools but each year it has broken this promise and shifted the goal posts, violating the human rights of thousands of learners. The DBE’s target, however, was not based on all schools but on those schools which formed part of its Sanitation Appropriate for Education (SAFE) initiative, which was launched in 2018. However, there are many schools still using pit toilets which have not been accounted for and lives have been lost. 

“We cannot have a single child still using these illegal, dangerous plain pit toilets 31 years after South Africa obtained its freedom. This is just another indication that many schools and the communities they serve continue to live with the consequences of the political and economic decisions made during the apartheid era. The result is that a child’s experience of education in South Africa still very much depends on where they are born, how wealthy they are, and the colour of their skin,” said Shenilla Mohamed. 

Amnesty International South Africa continues to call on the DBE to provide clarity and be transparent about the actual number of schools still using pit toilets, including those not part of the SAFE initiative, and how it plans to eradicate those not part of this initiative with clear timelines. The DBE has also recently taken on the responsibility for Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, and needs to include these in its new audit. The department must also ensure the immediate removal of all pit toilets from ECD centres. 

Unecebo’s father Loyiso said: “My son died in a death trap set up for poor people … his death will not be in vain”.

Background

Amnesty International South Africa is advocating for justice for Unecebo Mboteni as part of the organisation’s record-breaking Write for Rights campaign, which mobilises hundreds of thousands of people around the world to change the lives of individuals at risk through taking action.

Since 2001, the organisation has collected millions of messages written in support of people who are unjustly detained or persecuted. Write for Rights has become the world’s biggest human rights event.

Here is a link to a video of Unecebo’s mother speaking about her experience.