KZN Education Dept. promises to sort out ‘collapsed’ school feeding scheme

KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Education MEC, Mbali Frazer, has confirmed that the ‘vast majority of school pupils in the province will have food (at their schools) by the end of today, April 18.’

This comes after thousands of KZN pupils went hungry after the collapse of the National Schools Nutrition Programme (NSNP) at the start of the second term.

Dr Imran Keeka, the DA spokesman for education in KZN, had early lamented that the NSNP breakdown should never have happened in the first place. “It reflects the department’s failure to properly plan, execute, evaluate, and communicate effectively. South Africans as a whole deserve better,” he said in a statement.
MEC Frazer has also cited ‘illegal business as a source of tension and delivery delays.’ This, on top of what she confirmed was a logistics issue involving the NSNP’s new bulk supplier of food for learners.

“The information comes after a phone conversation yesterday with the MEC and earlier communication with her requesting a public statement rather than allowing speculation and assumptions,” Dr Keeka said.
He stated that at the moment, the DA sees no reason to reject the MEC’s commitment to resolving system failures within her department. We will continue to carry out our oversight duties as previous suppliers are also questioning why the department would abandon a working system and award a tender worth millions to just one service provider.

“The buck stops with the MEC, who must fix this mess rather than accept the usual feeble excuses from her spokespeople or spin doctors. The alternative is that more days of hunger will ensue.”
Dr Keeka said he had confirmed that at the end of the previous academic term, KZN’s Department of Education (DoE) had announced a change in the system for procuring food for learners. This included the possibility of adding breakfast as a permanent feature in the future, as well as a central supplier.

“The Department of Education hailed the move as cost-effective and progressive at the time. Yet here we are, on the first day of the school term, in complete disarray and rationing food as if it were a famine.
“The Department had plenty of time to get ready for the new system. What have they been up to over the last few weeks?

IFP wades in
The IFP’s spokesperson on education in the province, Thembeni Kamadlopha-Mthethwa, said in a statement that ‘thousands of pupils have gone hungry as a result of incompetence.’
“Why is the Premier (Dube) silent on this matter? The Premier should have demanded answers from the KZN MEC for Education about the food crisis that started when schools reopened (for the second term on April 12) Her silence appears to communicate that she is not concerned about the welfare of learners and that she is in support of MEC (Mbali Fraser).”
The IFP demands the following answers from the KZN MEC for Education: “Which suppliers were appointed under the National School Nutrition Programme in KZN? Please provide a full list of all suppliers, name/s, and surname/s of suppliers, as well as contact number/s. How much is paid to each supplier/s per month for delivering food to school/s? How many school/s are allocated to each supplier responsible for delivering food to schools?
“These questions must be answered by the MEC as the political head of the Department, and the Premier as leader of the provincial government.
“Further, if an IFP MEC was responsible for the food shortages and leaving learners to starve, the ANC would have hurled insults and called for his/her resignation”.

KZN Education Department responds
Asked to comment, Muzi Mahlambi, spokesperson for the KZN education department acknowledged ‘the glitches in the delivery of food to some schools that are beneficiaries of the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) in the province’.
“After getting a report, Education MEC Frazer, directed the Department’s top management to swiftly engage the affected districts and stakeholders in order to understand the root causes of the challenges and ascertain their extent. “It was with shock and regret that the Department discovered that there were logistical challenges on the part of the main service provider.

“This unfortunate situation currently faced by schools, communities, and service providers is deeply regretted. The Department and the affected service provider have been working around the clock to resolve these challenges. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education wishes to reaffirm its commitment towards providing all its 5 400 schools with nutritious meals as expected.”