R2 billion school nutrition program in KZN being probed after food was not delivered to over 5000 schools.
Students in more than 5000 schools across the province were impacted when food deliveries to schools were missed.
The National Department has started its own investigation into the KwaZulu-Natal program after hearing accusations that some schools’ meals were not provided and that others’ meals were of poor quality.
According to SABC News, schools across the province are still complaining that they haven’t received enough food with some claim they have not gotten meals since the start of the new school year.
The problems the school’s nutrition program has prompted Angie Motshekga, the Minister of Basic Education, to inform Mbali Frazer, the MEC for Education in KZN, that she is intervening to resolve the issue.
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Motshekga wrote a letter to Frazer on Friday that she wants to be provided with all tender paperwork and information proving that the purchase was legal.
“I wish to remind you that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) has a mandate to manage and implement the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP), in cooperation with the Provincial Education Departments.
“The NSNP Conditional Grant Framework, as gazetted in the Division of Revenue Act of 2022, stipulates stringent feeding requirements to ensure that the beneficiaries, i.e., our learners, are provided with nutritious meals on all school days.
“The provision of daily meals to targeted learners, especially the most vulnerable learners, aims to enhance their learning capacity for optimal participation in school curricular.
“This is critical towards meeting the ‘basic right to food and nutrition’ as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa,” Motshekga wrote in the letter.
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