School nutrition providers demand timeous payment
District Director of the Department of Education, Mfundi Sibiya, accepted a memorandum and said he understood the service providers' frustrations.
The National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) service providers in the Ugu District are concerned that the constitutional rights of children under the programme could be affected soon.
Deputy Secretary of the NSNP in the region, Nkosinathi Chiliza, said this on Tuesday last week after a peaceful march to the Department of Education (DoE) offices.
Chiliza said various issues outlined in a memorandum could lead to a shortage of food in schools.
“Today, we declare our patience and flexibility have been tested to the extreme.”
Chiliza demanded to be paid on time to be able to buy food.
“Sometimes it’s up to three months of not being paid, and we take money out of our pockets. We cannot carry on working when there is no cash flow; we don’t even see a profit because, by the time the department makes payments, we have taken out loans or have to pay credit at the store.”
Another big issue is the increase in food prices.
He said the budget given by the department per learner in a school does not correspond to the food prices. Also, food is getting more expensive, but the budget does not increase.
Chiliza said most of these issues have been addressed with the department, but nothing has been resolved.
“We don’t want the learners to be affected because we understand the background of some of them, but the way things are at the moment, it will get to that point.”
District Director of the DoE, Mfundi Sibiya, accepted the memorandum and said he understood the service providers’ frustrations.
“These are serious concerns experienced by the service providers, suppliers and principals in schools. Most importantly, there has to be communication between the supplier, the school and the district.”
Sibiya said the role of the district office is to merely convey the message and then wait for the head office to respond.
He said that receiving the memorandum means that there is a need for the department to do things differently, and he will respond to grievances in due course.
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