Former KZN education MEC says he had nothing to do with nutrition contract

In the wake of a scandal about the non-delivery of food to about 5,400 schools in KwaZulu-Natal, former education MEC Kwazi Mshengu has come forward to clear his name.

Mshengu on Tuesday said a narrative has been generated that the idea of appointing a single service provider for the school nutrition programme, which has been credited for the sudden collapse of the multibillion-rand feeding scheme, was his idea while still MEC.

The single-service provider system came into effect after Mshengu's tenure at the department. Mshengu has since written to both the government and the ANC for an audience to prove he had no hand in the scandal.

“I have written to the premier of the province and the minister of education to request to make representations before the teams they have appointed to undertake investigations about this fiasco. I have also written to the ANC provincial secretary to request a similar platform. 

“The facts and evidence I intend to adduce will prove that the current system of NSNP is materially different, both in form and content, to the concept that was approved by the provincial executive council under the leadership of former premier Zikalala and was subject to the final approval by the national department of basic education,” Mshengu said.

He added that while awaiting a response from the government and the ANC, he wished to state categorically he had no knowledge of the new system advertised in November 2022 and awarded after his tenure which ended on August 11 2022. 

Mshengu decried a “narrative” attempting to cover up the “epic failures of the new system” by associating his name with the scandal.

The former MEC alluded to “lies” as the reason for him speaking out publicly despite having chosen not to comment on governance since “premier NomusaDube-Ncube exercised her constitutional discretion to reconstitute the provincial executive council”.

“I took a deliberate decision not to comment on matters pertaining to the Department of Education in particular and the provincial government as a whole. This was done in line with my firm belief that those who are leading government now should be given necessary space and support.

“I have lived by this decision up to now and intend to continue doing so. However, over the past two weeks my name has been, publicly and in certain private meetings, dragged into the scandalous failure by the appointed service provider to deliver food to certain schools in the province,” said Mshengu.

He added that when the department released the list of companies appointed to deliver food to schools — he was accused of having left moles in the department which “messed up” the programme by even appointing funeral parlours to deliver food to schools.

“While lies have short legs, they can cause damage of monumental proportions when left unchallenged in certain instances. I cannot allow my reputation to be tarnished any further by having my name dragged into scandals which I have nothing to do with. 

“I also have no moles planted in the department. Instead the people alleged to be my moles are the same people I found in the employ of the department. I challenge anyone who claims to have proof to the contrary to approach the investigating panels or to lay bare such proof to the public,” Mshengu said.

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.