THE school nutrition programme is still a headache for schools, especially those in rural areas, although the Department of Basic Education claims it has everything under control.
Some schools have not received food since the schools reopened after the Easter holidays including those in Umlalazi and Eshowe, northern KZN.
ALSO READ | Polony KILLS boy (9)!Opens in new window
Umlalazi Mayor Queen Xulu said she received calls from schools within the municipality complaining that they had no food and that children were starving.
She then donated food parcels to 11 schools that were no longer receiving meals due to the collapse of the feeding scheme programme.
"As the first citizen of this municipality, I have received complaints from schools in almost all 28 wards of the municipality of which 25 of which are predominantly rural and under the management of Amakhosi. The beneficiaries of the school feeding programme are mostly from poor backgrounds and rely only on the meals provided by the schools. Some of them are on chronic medication," Xulu said.
On Tuesday, 2 May, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga held a joint press conference with KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube and Education MEC Mbali Frazer in La Mercy, Ballito, to give an update on the progress in addressing the food programme challenges.
Motshekga said that the report they collected indicates that the situation in the province has stabilised.
"There have been reports of delays in deliveries, but the children have been fed. That is the reason why we came to the province to collectively resolve the matter," Motshekga said.
But there are a number of schools that have not received food since they reopened.
