Minister stops R10bn school food tender amid corruption concerns

Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube has reportedly halted an R10 billion tender that was allegedly quietly issued before she was appointed.

The national school nutrition programme feeds over 9 million children a day. For many, it will be the only meal they will get.

The tender called for a single supplier to act as a “managing agent” for the national school nutrition programme. Bidding closed this week.

Possible corruption?

According to the Sunday Times, the proposal was put out after May’s elections, while political negotiations were ongoing and the department had no minister in place.

The department later denied this and said the tender was published several weeks after Gwarube had assumed office.

It was reportedly brought to Gwarube’s attention by a whistleblower who raised concerns over possible corruption.

However, the department’s Director General Mathanzima Mweli rubbished any suggestion of corrupt intentions with the tender.

“The department initiated the process for the modernization of the national school nutrition programme in July 2023.

“From a governance point of view, this matter was extensively processed by the Heads of Education Committee (HEDCOM) on various occasions during 2023 and working with the Council of Education Ministers (CEM) as the final model for the modernization was adopted by council in early 2024”.

Meanwhile, Gwarube has put the brakes on the tender and sought legal advice on the matter.

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“I have raised some concerns about this, particularly focusing on the integrity of the procurement process for such a large expenditure and the capacity of any single service provider to reach more than 9 million learners across the country every day.

“Additionally, I need to guarantee access to school nutrition to millions of learners; high centralisation of this kind does introduce a high risk of this not being realised,” the minister said.

Money woes

According to the department, the National School Nutrition Programme provides one nutritious meal to all learners in poorer primary and secondary schools.

“The objective is to provide nutritious meals to learners to improve their ability to learn,” it explained.

Presenting her budget vote earlier this month, Gwarube said the programme had been allocated R9.798 billion for the 2024/25 financial year, an increase of 5.6% from the year before.

However, feeding programmes in schools have often been hampered by distribution and funding issues.

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City Press last month reported that around a million pupils in Gauteng risked going hungry as a dispute over an R1bn tender raged on in court.

This week, KZN Education MEC Sipho Hlomuka said the current budget for feeding schemes in schools was not enough. 

He said R2.37 billion was needed to help feed more than 2 million children in the province.

Feeding on weekends

The issue was also raised in the Western Cape legislature, where Premier Alan Winde recently announced plans to look at feeding pupils over weekends.

More than 5 000 children in the province rely on the programme.

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“As a team, we have already agreed that the provincial ministers of Health, Education and Social Development will work together to identify where there are gaps in our extensive feeding schemes and how we ensure that we fight hunger with healthy, affordable meals.

“We have to be innovative: for example, I have asked our Minister of Education to look at the possibility of sending pupils, who are part of our school feeding schemes, home on a Friday with a food parcel for the weekend.

“Because so many of our pupils get their last meal on a Friday and their next meal on a Monday morning,” said Winde.

Additional reporting by Vhahangwele Nemakonde