Durban - Suppliers working in the National School Nutrition Programme in KwaZulu-Natal have detailed the unbearable conditions they have been subjected to since the new model for the feeding scheme was adopted at the start of the second term.
The challenges listed include sleeping outside the pick-up points in order to be first in the food queue, having to travel long distances to collect food supplies, waiting for a long period to receive food that is often inadequate, and being on the receiving end of complaints from angry school principals about the quality of the food being delivered.
They also pointed out that under the new conditions they were no longer business people, but rather “delivery crews”.
Those operating in the Ugu District on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast have warned that they will abandon this work by May 1 if the working conditions do not improve.
The suppliers were previously in charge of the whole process; they would source the food and deliver it to schools in their areas. But since this month, the Department of Education has adopted a new system with only one supplier who is tasked with buying the food.
Therefore the rest of the suppliers have to pick up the food at specific pick-up points and then deliver it to schools.
One supplier, speaking on condition of anonymity, detailed the challenges she and her colleagues were facing.
In one instance, she told of how a supplier had to go to a pick-up point in Tradeport near KwaMashu to pick up food to deliver to uMbumbulu, south of Durban. That supplier was forced to take a food delivery that was incomplete to the school because that was all that was left.
Another concern is the distance the suppliers now have to travel. One supplier responsible for a school in Harding used to buy in the area and deliver, but now has to collect supplies near Port Shepstone and deliver them to Harding, covering a distance of nearly 80km.
She also spoke of the difficulty of getting the food, saying that in one case she had to sleep outside the pick-up point in order to be the first in line for the food.
“I was at the pick-up centre and the food was finished in front of me. I had to sleep outside in order to be the first in the queue.
“In another case, I was still at the collection point at 2pm on Monday waiting to collect food that pupils were supposed to eat that day, so those pupils did not eat on Monday,” she said.
Nomarashiya Caluza, the provincial secretary of the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union, said the union suspected something was amiss with the contract, adding that they were disturbed by the inaction from the department to address the crisis.
“Even after numerous calls were made to the senior management of the department and numerous reports that schools were required to submit in relation to this problem, schools continue not to receive food. Schools continue to receive inadequate food supply, and those that receive such, it’s substandard food that is not suitable for human consumption,” she said.
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Education, Sifiso Sonjica, said the committee would be conducting unannounced visits in districts to assess the feeding scheme.
Education Department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said MEC Mbali Frazer was holding regular meetings with district directors to identify where there were still blockages.
“Each day there is improvement in the situation; there are challenges there but we are able to manage those.”
He conceded that there were complaints about distribution points, saying this was an issue they were working to resolve.