Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education has acknowledged that there are glitches in the delivery of food to some schools that are beneficiaries of the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) in the province.
In a statement on Thursday, Department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi, said MEC Mbali Frazer received a report on Wednesday regarding the issue.
Subsequently, Mahlambi said the MEC 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,” he said.
According to Mahlambi, 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,” he said.
The Mercury’s sister publication, the Daily News reported on Thursday that members of the KwaZulu-Natal Business Forum camped outside the headquarters of the Department of Education in Pietermaritzburg, demanding to see the MEC over the challenges of the school feeding scheme.
According to the report, he forum’s provincial secretary Xolani Shange, who led the protest, called for the MEC to intervene to remove the services of the company that was appointed to coordinate food supplies between them and the schools.
He said the company was failing to deliver to the chosen pick-up points and on several occasions service providers had to wait for hours until they went back home without food. Shange added that schools were blaming them and complaining that the children were starving.
