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Earlier last year Sanitech prioritised the protection of our children from the dangers of pit latrines.    

Earlier last year, Stephen Goodburn, Waco International Group CEO and Robert Erasmus, Sanitech Managing Director, prioritised the protection of our children from the dangers of pit latrines.

Waco’s Research and Development Department identified the following critical issues:

1. Ensure that children cannot fall into pit latrines.
2. Ensure that females are comfortable and safe when using pit latrines.
3. Protect all users against possible disease.
4. Ensure the safety of users during the night.
5. Contribute towards environmental protection by ensuring that waste does not contaminate underground water sources.

Subsequent to the successes of extensive onsite trials, Khusela is now ready for production. It is clear that the South African Government, opposition parties and the Human Rights Commission understand the imperative to eradicate the dangers inherent to pit latrines. Waco International, through its subsidiary Sanitech, is confident that Khusela is the most suitable, cost-effective solution to pit latrines. Khusela is available on a rent-to-own option, negating any initial significant capital outlay.

The poor maintenance of pit latrines may be harmful to the environment and its users. Over the last decade, many children have lost their lives in pit toilets. In December 2022, the body of a three-year-old boy was discovered in a pit latrine in a village outside Limpopo. In 2018, a five-year-old girl succumbed after falling into a pit latrine at a Primary School in the Eastern Cape. The most recent incident is a four-year-old girl found inside a pit latrine in March 2023.

These tragedies have intensified the call for pit latrine eradication, particularly in rural schools, - where most deaths have occurred. Shenilla Mohamed, Executive Director of Amnesty International South Africa, said: 

“Pit toilets are dangerous and not only violate the right to sanitation but also the right to health, education, dignity and privacy while in some cases posing a serious risk to the right to life, all of which are enshrined in the constitution.”

The Department of Education has reportedly spent in excess of R300 million in the past three years to eradicate pit latrines in schools. In 2022, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) reflected that the Eastern Cape was the worst-performing province, faced with inadequate toilets and other sanitation challenges. According to the SAHRC, 2 236 schools still use pit latrines while 121 schools are without water, and 199 schools have no sanitation facilities.

The process of pit latrine eradication in South Africa has moved down the discussion agenda, possibly due to significant financial implications. When the discussion of pit latrine eradication first commenced, the Minister of Basic Education said South Africa needed R10-billion to address the sanitation issue in schools. With the current economic climate, the amount needed to eradicate pit latrines in schools has increased exponentially. Accordingly, all institutions and organisations that currently use pit latrines should identify alternative health and economically friendly-sanitation options.

Fortunately, there is an affordable, healthy and environmentally-friendly option. As a company with a strong focus on sanitation, Sanitech has the experience and expertise to help provide dignified and hygienic lavatory options for various institutions, businesses or schools that use pit latrines. 

Khusela has unique features aimed at improving hygiene and sanitation for the user. It presents a dignified unit ensuring the privacy and protection of the user. Khusela is designed in an elliptical shape for optimised space utilisation and waste containment maximisation capacity, which contains sewage waste to prevent spillages and contamination. This makes Khusela environmentally friendly as it prevents contamination of underground water sources as opposed to leaching caused by pit latrine waste into the underground water sources.

About the Elliptical-Shaped Khusela Unit:

• No pit has to be dug for installation. This reduces installation costs and assists in areas where hard rock excavation may be required and/or ground stability and quality is poor.
• Khusela boasts an additional roof feature constructed of a fluorescent compound that glows at night. It does not require electricity, as it uses the sun to charge during daylight hours.
• The above highlights the advantages and cost-effectiveness of Khusela as opposed to the bad odours, flies and far-reaching negative impact of pit latrines on the environment and human lives.
• During the Khusela design process, Sanitech emphasised user convenience, health, hygiene and the environmental impact of traditional pit latrines.

The Elliptical-Shaped Khusela Unit’s Primary Features:

• Optional 10 Litre reservoir water system, supported by a repellent rotating bowl surface, ensuring cleanliness.
• The main Khusela structure is composed of concrete and the door of injection moulding plastic. In addition, the Khusela unit features a ventilation pipe composed of injection moulding plastic, limiting odours
• The waste containment consists of a 1,500-litre bladder with a 3-5 year guaranteed life cycle, after which it can be removed without disabling the unit.
• Khusela innovations replace the traditional open pit latrines. It makes use of a rotating bowl, which features a repellent surface.
• Khusela has a separate service hatch that ensures zero exposure to waste by the Sanitech service team and the community.
• The rotating bowl ensures that no foreign objects can be deposited into the unit. The rotating bowl discharges the waste content into the bladder and eliminates waste from the user.

No faecal exposure for users and Sanitech service teams. Unpleasant odours are significantly reduced by a rubber seal located within the rotating bowl, ensuring that users are not exposed to waste.

Benefits of the Elliptical-Shaped Khusela Unit:

• Addresses current unsecured open pit latrines and chemical toilet challenges.
• Enhances the safety of small children by limiting the danger of falling.
• Limits the abandonment of land.
• Khusela units are significantly mobile requiring minimal civil works.
• The sealed rotating bowl prevents foreign objects from being dropped into the Khusela Unit.
• The rotating bowl discharges contents directly into the bladder preventing the user from coming into contact with any waste.
• The bladder below the base of the Khusela Unit stores wastes preventing environmental pollution and seeping.
• No faecal exposure for either the user or service teams.
• The sealed Khulsela Unit is sealed, preventing insects from entering or exiting the system, and creating safer, hygienic conditions for users and the service teams.
• The bladder is sealed off, eliminating overflowing during possible floods.
• The use of environmentally friendly microbiological products promotes the digestion of solid matter and improves the system’s overall health.

The Elliptical-Shaped Khusela Unit’s Environmental Impact Prevention

Bladder: The Khusela Unit’s “Bladder” is a highly durable bladder which assists in the prevention of underground water contamination and ensures that the Unit is environmentally friendly and meets the highest health and safety standards.

Environmentally friendly products: Microbiological Toilet Tabs are a biotechnology-based product utilised to treat Khusela toilet waste. The microbiological products continually eliminate bad odours and biodegrades sewage solids, reducing the solid organic load.

Traditional pit latrine challenges are not limited to specific groups such as school children or employees of entities that still make use of pit latrines. When the environment is affected, the entire community suffers. For this reason, Sanitech includes the local community during the installation process to contribute towards the upliftment of the community and to ensure that the community participates in the transformation towards better sanitation and dignity to the community.

Khusela is an immediate, practical and cost-effective solution to the eradication of pit latrines, contributing positively towards the dignity and safety of many children across South Africa.