Two months after the Department of Basic Education was to announce a strategy to fix sanitation in South African schools, private funding has allowed the department to announce a two-year sanitation improvement plan. However, questions about the legitimacy of the data collected remain. The Department of Basic Education, with the intervention of President Cyril Ramaphosa, is set to announce a plan that includes funding from the private sector to finally eradicate pit toilets at schools in South Africa. A variety of funders from the private sector have pledged financial support to the government to help fix sanitation countrywide, according to department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga. "Millions of rand" have already been offered, Mhlanga revealed during an exclusive interview with Daily Maverick. The sanitation plan will have a two-year deadline, by the end of which the department believes they will fix pressing sanitation issues in South African schools. The plan will be unveiled on 14 August, two months after the department's initial deadline to urgently develop a new nationwide sanitation improvement strategy.