While the Department of Basic Education has admitted that not enough has been done to eradicate pit toilets and provide sustainable school sanitation, it says how Langalam Viki allegedly ended up in the tank of a senior toilet not appropriate for her remains a mystery that's under investigation by the police.

"In the school where Langalam died, there was new proper sanitation. She did not die because we as the government had not replaced old toilets. What happened is there were old toilets that had not been demolished far away from the school and that is where she drowned... Maybe the question is why were those toilets not demolished?"

This was the question the Minister of Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga raised during a Sunday media briefing on her department's efforts to improve sanitation at public schools.

Previously Daily Maverick reported that four-year-old Langalam Viki seemingly fell into a pit toilet at her school in Vaalbank in the Eastern Cape and drowned. However, the department has said this is untrue.

"I wanted to clarify... she was not found in the pit latrine, she was found behind the toilet. Langalam was found in the tank of a senior toilet not appropriate for her and not in the pit side," said Motshekga.

"There are still a lot of questions outstanding... She was even too young to lift the manhole, the manhole lid was removed and she would have never been able to remove the lid herself and that's where the issue is."...