Implementing Agents and the impact of water and sanitation delivery to schools in rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal.

Abstract

South Africa, branded with the apartheid label, has for decades been subject to abject inequality which has managed to negatively influence almost every existing domain. Domains included jobs, land, schools, water, sanitation, electricity and roads, therefore the Government of the country has long since recognised the need to address these inequalities. This study focussed on inequalities of water and sanitation at schools in rural areas of KwaZulu Natal and the reasons why 27 years after democracy, which was achieved in 1994, schools in rural areas still do not have these basic services. The Government had proclaimed in its constitution that the equal and fair distribution of water and the provision of hygienic sanitation, is a human right. This proclamation lent itself to this research, which in turn, attempted to shed light on the current water and sanitation situation in schools in rural areas in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Focus was placed on the Department of Basic Education (DBE) in KwaZulu-Natal, with emphasis on its infrastructure provision for water and sanitation. The study revealed that schools in rural areas had far less of a provision with regards to basic services, such as water and sanitation, over and above the fact that they do not have facilities such as laboratories, libraries, school halls, etc. KwaZulu-Natal was chosen as a point of departure, as the study demonstrated that, this province is amongst one of the provinces, with the worst backlogs in relation to water and sanitation facilities at schools in rural areas. The drive for school infrastructure equality, since democracy was so great, that a Norms and Standards for Schools Infrastructure document was developed in 2013, by the DBE, to ensure that there was a progressive plan of action for all schools in the country to have access to adequate water and sanitation facilities, as well as, extra over facilities such as libraries and laboratories, etc., by the year 2026. With due consideration to these far-reaching interventions for equality, this study explored why certain rural schools in the country still utilised unhygienic sanitation facilities and are subjected to drinking water from rainwater harvesting tanks. The responsibility for infrastructure procurement for schools was consequently, investigated. The study revealed that the responsibility for infrastructure procurement lies with organisations, termed Implementing Agents(IA’s) who were introduced by Government, after the inception of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999. The IA therefore had the main responsibility for the procurement of school infrastructure. Even with criteria set out by the DBE for organisations who would qualify as IAs, there still exists a substantial backlog in the provision of the basic services of water and sanitation. The study found that the IA presents numerous challenges associated with the procurement and contract management process which only result in delayed procurement of water and sanitation facilities in schools in rural areas. Suggestions are presented in the study, by professionals in the Built Environment, to alleviate these challenges and possibly fast track service delivery of these basic services to schools in rural areas. This study adopts theoretical perspective related to pragmatism and the methodology is linked to survey research. Data was collected via mixed methods. Qualitative (a semi structured interview) and quantitative data (structured questionnaire) was analysed via the NVivo 12 and SPSS version 26 software programmes respectively.