EFF KZN demands accountability from the KZN government and the Department of Education for starving learners in over 5,400 schools
19 April 2023
The EFF has learned with shock that thousands of KwaZulu-Natal pupils, who are fed by the National School Nutrition Programme in their respective schools, have been subjected to starvation for the past few days.
Thousands of schoolchildren have gone hungry since the start of the second term last Wednesday because no food supplies have been delivered to the schools in our province.
By failing to properly handle such an important initiative, the ANC is once again giving the people of our country the middle finger. The EFF alerted the ruling party about the corruption in the allocation of contracts for the KZN School Nutrition Programme as early as 2020. The children of the poor, who are black in their majority, are now bearing the brunt of the incompetency of the ANC.
The EFF carne across a similar situation last week Friday during a door-to-door campaign in uMhlab'uyalinga, where students from Ekuweleni Primary School were now being sent home as early as 11:00 due to the shortage of food supplies at the school. Even more depressing is the fact that for of these learners the school nutrition programme has become the only source of meal they receive in a day.
Since then, the EFF has adopted the school and made sure that no student goes without food while trying to pursue an education in an effort to improve their life. Until this man-made crisis is resolved, the EFF will continue to assist this school fully with food packs and other essential items to ensure that all learners receive a meal while at the school.
The erroneous and misleading allegation made by the department of education that this horrific situation has resulted from difficulties with transport bgistics futher disgusts the EFF. The department also misled the public by asserting that 90% of the schools have already received their food, which is wholly incorrect and demonstrates the lack of empathy and tone-deafness on the part of the administration.
As the EFF we will be writing to the MEC of education and demand full disclosure of the scope of this scheme. We also want a thorough inquiry of how the contracts for the school nutrition program were awarded and if all tender process were followed.
We will never allow a situation were the ruling party can play chess with the lives of our children and it becomes business as usual. We will make sure that everyone who is responsible for this mess is held fully accountable.
In the interim, the EFF calls upon all businesses, non-profit organizations, civil society groups and other organisations to band together and monitor the various schools within their communities and offer assistance were possible. We must never allow a situation were our children will not be able to get education because there is no access to food.
As a compassionate nation, driven by the principles of Ubuntu, we must work together in ensuring that all children of the poor are attending school and have access to a minimum of one meal a day.
Issued by Mongezj Twaia, Provincial Chairperson, EFF KZN, 19 April 2023
