Ekurhuleni learners wade through sewage to get to class

OR Tambo Secondary School lacks classrooms and desks and now there’s a sewage problem

By Seth Thorne

8 April 2026

Learners have to cross a river of sewage to get to school. Photo: Seth Thorne

• A river of sewage outside OR Tambo Secondary in Katlehong is yet one more challenge learners at the school face.
• The school is short of desks and chairs, and classes are held in old prefab buildings.
• Poor water pressure means the toilets often do not flush.
• The school governing body chair says the school has been neglected by the department.
• The department says it is aware of the challenges and these are being addressed.

At OR Tambo Secondary School in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni, learners have to cross raw sewage to get to classes. The sewage is one of many problems learners face at this school, which parents say has been neglected by the education department.

When GroundUp visited last week, learners arriving for extra classes during the holidays had to cross the filthy water. Some girls were carried on boys’ backs.

The school relies on 11 prefab classrooms that were meant to last five years but are now over a decade old. There is a shortage of 307 desks with chairs, which means that many of the school’s 1,347 learners do not have proper seating, say teachers. Some learners have to stand during exams. Toilets are frequently unusable due to low water pressure. There is also a shortage of teachers.

Teachers did not want to be identified. They say the Gauteng Department of Education has told them not to talk to journalists.

School governing body (SGB) chairperson Petrus Mthembu arrives at school before sunrise to provide oversight where basic services have collapsed.

“Since I’ve been here, six o’clock in the morning… I have to come to monitor the school,” Mthembu said. With no security guards on duty, safety has become a community responsibility rather than a government function.

Mthembu says the SGB has repeatedly been forced to step in where the state has withdrawn. Parents and teachers recently repaired the school’s damaged palisade fence themselves.

“We are trying as parents to support the school, but we cannot replace the government,” he said.

“It’s a good school and it’s a school with a lot of potential,” he said. “It’s just under-resourced from the state.”

The City of Ekurhuleni did not respond to GroundUp about the water and sewage problems.

The school managed an 85.9% matric pass in 2025, a slight increase from 2024, but down from 92.8% in 2023.

Gauteng Department of Education spokesperson Steve Mabona said the department is “aware of the situation … and processes to address the matters are currently underway”.

Regarding security and vandalism, Mabona said that the department had conducted an audit and is “working with community safety in addressing challenges.”

On the issues of teacher shortages and classrooms, he said an analysis of needs had been completed and “vacant posts will be advertised”.