The KwaZulu-Natal department of education has made a sudden U-turn in how the provincial school nutrition programme will work going forward. This follows public outcry about learners in the province going hungry or receiving rotten food after a supplier failed to meet its end of the feeding scheme bargain.
As of 2 May 2023, the provincial education department will revert to the old method of supply and delivery of food items to schools. This means that the department will send money directly to schools that will be responsible for sourcing food items from local suppliers.
While the move has been widely welcomed, calls are mounting for heads to roll for the collapse of the R2.1 billion feeding scheme which made use of one supplier.
Pacina Pty Ltd is the company that single-handedly supplies food to all schools with feeding scheme programmes in KwaZulu-Natal. The company has since abandoned the multibillion-rand tender.
Head of the KwaZulu-Natal department of education, Nkosinathi Ngcobo, said following the withdrawal of Pacina Retail [Pty] Ltd from the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP), the department is invoking clause 8.2.6 of the amended NSNP policy 2022.
“Which states where the private label programme defaults or experiences challenges of non-compliance which cause non-feeding, the department shall revert to the old method of supply and delivery of food items to schools,” Ngcobo said.
There must be consequences
The KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Rural Development has however called for harsh sanctions to be implemented on all parties responsible for the collapse of the multibillion-rand school feeding scheme.
President of the centre, Gabby Malope, told Food For Mzansi that consequence management needed to kick in.
“The whole value chain has been disrupted. Important on this issue is that kids whose only meal comes from school are no longer there, leading to a devastating impact on the livelihood of those children,” Malope said.
She added they will support investigations into the matter but cautioned that disciplinary action, changes in policies or procedures, or even legal action should kick in after the findings of the investigation.
The ripple effect
Malope said while the impact of the non-delivery of food at schools for kids is devastating, it also affects suppliers, mainly farmers who rely on such businesses.
“There is a possibility that suppliers, including farmers, have been affected by the issue of food not reaching schools, which could impact the livelihoods of suppliers who rely on these contracts for their income.
“The extent to which suppliers have been affected would depend on the specific circumstances of each supplier and the measures being taken by authorities to mitigate the effects of the issue,” she said.
‘It’s a mess’
A farmer in KwaZulu-Natal who once supplied the department of education with vegetables, told Food For Mzansi that the province’s one-supplier strategy did not work. The farmer asked Food For Mzansi not to use her real name, as she fears victimisation for speaking out, so we are referring to her as Busisiwe Dlamini.
“Suppliers have changed as of April and I do not think it’s a wise move, logistically it does not make sense and it’s impossible.
“The model that is being used is that the supplier buys from the farmer and take the produce to the location, and it is there where the food get separated,” Dlamini said.
According to Dlamini, the location where the food is kept could be anything from storage to a garage.
“Based on the quantity of food that needs to be delivered, it will be impossible for one supplier to have a storeroom that has fridges to accommodate all those groceries that need to go to school,” she said.
Decentralised approach, better
Meanwhile, according to the NSNP report by the department of basic education, the nutrition programme can be implemented in two different models: a decentralised or centralised approach.
The report states that centralising the school feeding scheme has the potential to delay the supply of food in schools. Despite this, the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government forged ahead with awarding an R2 billion tender to one company.
Furthermore, locally sourced vegetables and other products have the potential to address the school’s concerns regarding vegetable deliveries, the report stated.
Food For Mzansi spoke to schools in different provinces and many are using the decentralised approach. This way, the department pays the school and the school is responsible for purchasing the food from local producers.
“I can confirm that we are using a decentralised method, we have local food producers whom we buy from. We think it makes more sense in that way, besides it helps stimulate the economy locally,” a principal of a school (in the province) indicated.
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