Premier ‘investigates’ school nutrition programme

The Premier of KwaZulu-Natal Nomusa Dube-Ncube said she has ordered a full-scale investigation into the rollout of the National School Nutrition Programme.

This comes after a number of schools in the Ugu district and in KZN were reported to have inadequate food supply.

Dube-Ncube said the investigation will cast its net to include probing the food distribution model and quality of the food supplied to 5 444 schools that are recipients of the feeding scheme programme across the province.

She added that she has since directed the special advisor in the Office of the Premier, Advocate Linda Zama together with the Research and Monitoring team, Operation Sukuma Sakhe teams, Community Development workers, and Ward Committee Members to scour the province and conduct a comprehensive investigation and analysis of the distribution to every participating school in every ward in the province.

“The probe will establish the extent of the interruptions and produce a comprehensive report on the status of the rollout and management of the food nutrition programme in the province. Our aim is to ensure that all 2.4 million pupils in quintiles 1 to 3, including some quintile 4 and 5 schools, continue to be provided with balanced nutritious meals daily. The National School Nutrition Programme grant allocation for the 2023/2024 financial year amounts to R2.1 billion which demonstrates our commitment as government to ensure that children in schools do not go hungry. We need to understand the reasons for the glitches in the system so that necessary interventions are implemented with immediate effect to address the situation. There will be consequence management after the conclusion of all investigations where there is evidence of wrongdoing,” said Dube-Ncube.

She added that she expects the investigation to be swift but thorough to ensure that no child goes to school hungry in the future.

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