“No school should be without proper functioning and clean sanitation units. It’s called human dignity” said Albert Weber, Chief Executive Officer of the Infrastructure Specialist Group (ISG) when he recently handed over 16 Rocla precast concrete sanitation units to the Sifunindlela Primary School, based at Kabokweni in Mpumalanga Province.
“At ISG, our Corporate Social Initiative focuses on early learning development projects. At Sifunindlela Primary School, we saw a need for hygienic and safe sanitation units for their very young learners, and we knew we could assist through the expertise that Rocla has in this sector. Our belief that functional ablution facilities should be provided for young learners attending educational establishments, stems from our belief in the right to basic human dignity. We at ISG and Rocla are proud to have supplied the 16 dignified and safe sanitation units” Weber said.
“We contracted Enviromould Product Solutions for the installation of the toilets, they supplied amenities for upstream water and downstream sewer management. The finished product comprised of two sets of toilet for both girls and boys. The seats supplied, include for a built in baby-seat to accommodate both pre-schoolers and the much older children in primary school. These sanitation units are safe, hygienic and fully functional and replace previously dangerous Pit toilet installations” commented Andre Labuschagne, Product Development Manager at Rocla. He added “The sanitation unit itself is a cost-efficient unit. There is no need for any educational establishment not to have units such as these installed for their learners and their staff “.
Enviromould supplied all associated sanitation unit fittings such as stop cocks, water connection fittings, infiltrator soak away chambers, sewer pipes, water troughs and vent valves as well as conducting the excavation, installation and backfilling of the septic tank as well as the installation of a 5000 litre water tank on a raised platform to gravitationally feed the toilet cisterns.
Rocla’s Precast Concrete Toilet unit is a cost-effective solution to one of the essential needs in South Africa’s high-density urban and rural communities. The stand-alone unit has been developed to be used as either a leach pit configuration or as a full water borne systems.
The unit is supplied complete with high quality, Polymer pivot door and the optional concrete add-on wash basin. Where running water is available, plastic fittings are used to prevent theft as these have no scrap value.
In the case of leach pit latrines, the leach pits themselves are also manufactured from concrete and supplied together with the toilet unit. This provides a system in line with the Water Research Comission’s findings for a cost effective and viable on-site water borne system.
Sifunindlela Primary School is a no fee public school and has over 1,100 registered learners with over 100 in Grade R.
Rocla is part of the ISG which also includes Technicrete.