School nutrition programme leaves pupils hungry

Schools in the Ugu district, particularly Gamalakhe Junior Primary and Olwandle High School were hard hit after the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) failed to conduct deliveries.

Sources at the two schools told Fever that the last time food was delivered, was at the end of term one.
Towards the end of the last academic term, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education announced that a change will be made in the system in terms of the procurement of food for pupils, saying that it included the possible addition of breakfast as a permanent feature going forward, as well as a central supplier.

The sources who did not want to be named said for two weeks in the new term, pupils had no meals in the two schools because there was no food.
Also, the DA in KwaZulu-Natal has called for immediate answers from provincial education MEC, Mbali Frazer, after reports that thousands of pupils in the province went hungry.

DA KZN spokesperson on education, Imran Keeka, said the multi-billion rand NSNP forms a vital part of the schooling day, saying that in many instances, it is the only meal for pupils.

“This incident is not only shocking and disgraceful – it also smacks of incompetence. The buck stops with the MEC who needs to fix this mess instead of allowing the usual feeble excuses from her spokespersons or spin doctors. The alternative is that more days of starvation will follow. The department had enough time to prepare for the new system. The question is: What have they been doing the past few weeks? We now have a situation where pupils have empty stomachs thanks to government officials who continue to feed from the trough and are clearly fast asleep,” said Keeka.

In a statement on Tuesday, KZN Department of Education (DOE) spokesperson, Muzi Mahlambi, said although there are reports of shortages in some of the schools in the Ugu district, saying that these are currently being attended to.
“The KZN DOE experienced challenges last week due to non-delivery of food items to some of the schools. As a result, the MEC of Education, Mbali Frazer, directed the head of department and top management to swiftly investigate the root cause and the possible solution. During the investigation, it transpired that there were logistical challenges encountered by the appointed service provider,” said Mahlambi.
Meanwhile, the Fever received reports on Wednesday that some deliveries were made to some schools in Ugu, but not all the affected schools.