Basic education minister puts R10 billion school feeding tender on ice

Lester Kiewit interviews Petrina Pakoe, Director of the Peninsula School Feeding Scheme Association.

Listen below.

Siviwe Gwarube, the Minister of Basic Education, has suspended one of the largest school feeding scheme tenders, valued at approximately R10 billion.

The national school nutrition programme provides daily meals to over 9 million children. For many of these children, it is their only meal of the day.

This follows concerns about potential corruption.

Reports indicate that the proposal surfaced after the May elections, during a period of political transition when the department was without a minister.

Gwarube is quoted as saying: “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."

Pakoe believes that each province runs the programme differently and that the local context must be considered.

While she acknowledges that the tender document allows for joint ventures and partnerships, she is very concerned about how the rollout will be managed.

"You cannot have a one shoe fits all approach to this."

- Petrina Pakoe, Director – Peninsula School Feeding Scheme Association

She also notes that early childhood development centres have never been included in the national school nutrition programme, making their inclusion in the upcoming tender a first.

Given these circumstances, Pakoe supports Gwarube's decision to take more time to consider how the scheme will be implemented, particularly in the early childhood development sector, which currently lacks sufficient structure.

"A lot more thought needs to be put into just how that is done."

- Petrina Pakoe, Director – Peninsula School Feeding Scheme Association

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.