The KZN provincial government is seeking legal opinion on the steps that should be taken against the company responsible for the non-delivery of food items to schools in the province.

This comes after a service provider was appointed by way of a formal bid process to develop and execute a private label that would enable the province to better use economies of scale in the procurement of food items for the National School Nutrition Programme.

Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube’s office issued a statement yesterday saying that during the week prior to schools re-opening after the Easter holidays, the service provider assured the Department of Education that the plan was on track to provide all food items to schools in time.

However, when schools opened in April for the second term, it was discovered that the service provider failed to honour the terms of the contract with the department, resulting in the non-delivery of food items in all schools on April 12, delivery shortages during the past weeks, the supply of non-compliant food items such as soya mince, long distances having to be travelled by service providers to collection points, a lack of manpower to offload food from trucks and onto the individual service providers’ transport, and the non-supply of gas to schools.

When the department discovered that the service provider was in breach of the contract, correspondence was immediately addressed to the service provider, informing it that it was in breach and demanding immediate compliance with the terms and conditions of the contract, failing which the contract would be terminated.

The service provider subsequently addressed correspondence to the department on April 26, notifying the department of its withdrawal from the contract provided they were paid for services rendered so far.

The premier says the department is seeking legal opinion on the matter and has instituted an investigation.

“Parallel to the investigation processes that are underway, a ministerial committee on the challenges of the National School Nutrition Programme was instituted.”

“In the week starting from May 2, after the extended weekend, all MECs, HODs, senior management in the Department of Education, and other government departments visited schools across the province to ensure that food items were delivered and that children were being fed nutritious meals as expected. All challenges facing the school nutrition programme in the province have been addressed, and children are indeed being fed in schools,” says Dube-Ncube.

The latest report comes amid ongoing oversight visits led by Dube-Ncube to assess the implementation of the feeding programme in schools across all districts.

“We are also particularly concerned about misleading reports regarding the non-delivery of food in some schools, where investigations have revealed that those schools had in fact received food deliveries,” says Dube-Ncube.

“Political party leaders across party lines have demonstrated that they are firmly committed to representing the interests and needs of all our people, by way of their contributions, to ensure that all children receive a nutritious meal every day.

“It is, however, disappointing that some leaders opted to politicise the issue. This was to undermine the resolve demonstrated by the provincial government to respond to the matter decisively and swiftly. We must guard against political grandstanding and rather work together for the greater good of our society,” cautioned Dube-Ncube.

She says all community structures have been requested to work with the government and report any challenges in order to ensure that there are no further disruptions to the programme.

In the coming days, Dube-Ncube will appear before the KZN provincial legislature to answer questions about matters of provincial importance.