Pressure is mounting on KZN Education MEC Mbali Frazer to take action against officials involved in the school nutrition scheme contract, which created food shortages at the province’s schools.

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, who is part of the ANC’s national leadership delegation assessing ruling party structures in KZN, has warned Frazer that the organisation will take action against her should she fail to deal with those responsible for the province’s school nutrition scheme debacle.

Addressing reporters at Pietermaritzburg City Hall, where Mbalula and other ANC national leaders met local party members, the ANC secretary-general said Frazer has been given instructions to ‘act’.

“The MEC is with me in this meeting, and I have asked to her, ‘MEC, what is the problem? If there is corruption, investigate and deal with it. ‘If there are people in government who dealt with the issue in a clumsy way and corrupt way, deal with them. If you don’t deal with them, we will deal with you,” he said.

KZN, which has more than 5 400 schools, gets the lion’s share [R2b] of the National Schools Nutrition Programme’s (NSNP) multi-billion-rand grant.

KZN Education department hires small contractors

In previous years, the KZN Education Department had been hiring small contractors to supply food to the province’s schools.

However, at the end of last year, the department resolved to do away with the multi-supplier model, opting to utilise a single supplier, Pacina Retail.

Problems within the department’s new supply model emerged in April after learners from several schools within the province went without food.

While the department has since reverted to its original supply model, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube have launched an investigation into the province’s school nutrition scheme.

Pupils in KZN schools are now getting their meals, but it remains unclear whether the provincial government can terminate the binding contract it has with Pacina Retail.

Despite the department insisting that the contract it has with Pacina Retail has now been terminated, the company, on the other hand, has claimed that the contract is still in force.

“There is food here, and we will continue to deliver food. We will continue supporting SMMEs so that they can continue to supply and deliver food,” the company’s spokesperson, Thobani Zikalala, says.

The objective of the NSNP is to prevent learners from impoverished families from dropping out of school due to hunger.