The Northern Cape Department of Education has pledged to get rid of asbestos in its schools by 2030. Asbestos has heavily contaminated many parts of South Africa, most notably the Northern Cape Province.
Franciscus Primary School in Upington will be one of the schools set to benefit from the Asbestos Eradication Programme.
The school building is full of asbestos, with one section cordoned off due to exposed asbestos fibers. Construction to turn the school into a "state-of-the-art asbestos-free facility" is reported to start soon.
The dangers of mining and using the naturally-occurring fibrous silicate mineral for building various structures (including schools), was discovered by South African pathologist, Christopher Wagner in 1960.
Since asbestos is a mineral that has to be unearthed through mining, mine workers came into direct contact with the air that became contaminated with the mineral's harmful particles during the mining process.
Later, those who came into contact with mine workers were at risk of the hazardous particles themselves. Asbestos was commonly used as a building material, but left behind its toxic particles in the walls, roofs, boilers, pipes, textiles and air conditioning ducts of the buildings it helped create.
The last of the Nation's asbestos mines ceased production in 2001 and closed down the following year.
South Africa outlawed all types of asbestos by 2008, banning the importing and exporting of the mineral, but the consequences still linger within South Africa's infrastructure several years later as not all the structures that are contaminated have been rebuilt.
Franciscus Primary School isn't the first school in the Northern Cape to face an asbestos problem.
Back in 2011, two schools in Kuruman, Northern Cape, were closed due to violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The schools were found to be contaminated with asbestos, as well as having bare electrical connections.
In 2017, more than 200 schools in Gauteng were found to have asbestos, with 29 identified for replacement. Only one out of the 29 schools identified as unsafe saw the beginning of construction, despite the stipulated deadline of November 2016.
Just outside Kuruman are villages facing death for those living in the contaminated mining belt, previously used for mining before the asbestos ban was implemented.
South Africa still faces a rampant asbestos problem that claims the lives of many once its entered the lungs, most notably in the country's rural or undeveloped areas, more than a decade after the ban.
Community members in Upington are welcoming of the Asbestos Eradication Programme, as it can improve and/or prevent anyone else from getting sick.
"I'm looking forward to it, and I hope [it can happen] as soon as possible," said one community member.
