Eastern Cape schools are praying the provincial education department will keep its promise and make payments to them on Tuesday so they can feed pupils.
Many schools had to beg service providers to supply them with food items on credit over the past two weeks after the department failed to transfer money for the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) into the institutions’ bank accounts on April 24.
The scandal comes hot on the heels of the fiasco in KwaZulu-Natal where pupils in the province went hungry for days after Pacina Retail, a company contracted to supply and deliver food to collection points, allegedly failed to do so for several days.
A principal of a high school in the Chris Hani East district told TimesLIVE Premium they had to plead with a shop supplying them with food to allow them to buy groceries on credit.
“Our money ran out on April 24 and if the shop did not accede to our request, our learners would have gone hungry.”
The school, which has more than 1,600 pupils, received R371,000 towards the NSNP for the first three months of the year.
“It is disappointing that the department did not pay us on April 24. We are praying and hoping the money will be paid on Tuesday.”
It is disappointing that the department did not pay us on April 24. We are praying and hoping the money will be paid on Tuesday.
Ray Tywakadi, deputy director-general for curriculum management and delivery, informed schools in a circular dated May 3 the disbursement of funds had been delayed.
“This was due to an extension afforded to the Education Information Management Services (Emis) directorate to consolidate the provincial database on schools’ enrolment and the operational status of schools in the Eastern Cape.”
This was because “schools delayed in timeously updating their details for processing by Emis”.
“The department implements the technical verification processes to ensure government resources are targeted and linked to a learner.”
Apologising for the delay in payment to schools, he said funds were expected to reflect in their accounts by May 15.
However, in a subsequent circular from acting head of department Soyisile Nuku, dated May 5, schools were told funds would be in their bank accounts on Tuesday.
“The necessary administration logistics were completed on May 4. I apologise to the government of Eastern Cape, learners, educators, parents and stakeholders for this delay,” wrote Nuku.
Meanwhile, the delay in the payment of NSNP funds has been slammed by education stakeholders.
Cecile van Schalkwyk, an attorney at the Legal Resources Centre in Makhanda, said in 2020 the North Gauteng High Court confirmed nutrition forms part of the constitutional right to basic education.
“The failure by the department to provide learners with timeous funding for food violates this right and infringes on the learners’ rights to nutrition, equality and human dignity.
“The learners who rely on the nutrition programme are usually from impoverished communities, and for some, this is the only meal they get in a day.”
She said schools need to be adequately and timeously funded by the department, “as this failure can have serious nutritional and health implications for the learners who rely on these meals for survival”.
Demichelle Petherbridge, a senior attorney at Section27, said they were shocked to learn of the Eastern Cape’s education department’s late payment of money to schools, “particularly in the wake of the recent non-delivery of meals to schools in KwaZulu-Natal”.
“The NSNP supplies meals to about 9-million learners, many of whom are poor and depend on the feeding scheme.
“It’s unacceptable that learners go hungry at school due to late payments and we implore the Eastern Cape education department to fix its internal processes and ensure that learners receive these meals.”
Loyiso Mbinda, CEO of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) in the Eastern Cape, described the province's failure to pay funds for the NSNP to schools on time as “inefficiency of the highest order”.
“It is highly disappointing to learn about this. It’s an act of irresponsibility once more and unfortunately, as usual, there is going to be no consequence management.”
He confirmed a number of schools had complained to Naptosa about the non-payment of funds.
Eastern Cape education department spokesperson Mali Mtima failed to respond to media queries.
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