The National School Nutrition Programme provides meals to 9.7 million learners daily. It is the responsibility of the Provincial Departments of Education to implement this nationally funded programme, appoint service providers, ensure food quality and delivery and monitor school compliance.
The DA is concerned with apparent challenges in proper supply chain management relating to the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) in some provinces which has, at its worst, resulted in countless learners going without meals during their first month of school in 2025. We will conduct oversights to ensure that no learner who is meant to benefit from a nutritious meal at school is left hungry and unable to concentrate on their studies.
During a meeting of the basic education portfolio committee, the Department of Education indicated its concern with some provinces, particularly KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), appointing an overwhelming number of service providers (1 700), unlike provinces such as the DA-led Western Cape, where the NSNP is efficiently managed, and provision is on time.
This fragmented approach from which each service provider services on average only 3.5 schools in KZN, creates an administrative nightmare for the province. The result is consistent delays in payments to service providers which consistently threaten interruptions to the NSNP in this financially burdened province.
The Northern Cape has also experienced prolonged interruptions, leaving learners hungry and neglected with some schools and hostels unable to provide meals. Alarmingly, two hostels in this province had to shut their doors entirely, forcing learners to return home.
The DA welcomes the confirmation of the National Department of Basic Education that a team has been deployed to monitor the situation in the Northern Cape and that funds have been transferred for the programme to commence.
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The reality is that the over-appointment of service providers by provincial education departments cannot be continuously excused by these provinces who claim that vast travel distances are a hindrance when the logical solution would be to make use of suppliers in regions or districts that cater for the schools in that area.
The DA will therefore be submitting parliamentary questions to the Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, to seek clarity and accountability on whether the Department has conducted any investigations into the impact and reasons behind poor supply chain management of the NSNP and what accountability mechanisms have been implemented to prevent financial mismanagement within the programme that results in consistent delays of its roll-out.
The DA remains committed to ensuring that no learner is left behind, that financial mismanagement does not go unchecked and calls on the Department to support provinces with operational guidelines and accountability measures that are tailored to the circumstances of each province and encourage long-term sustainability that would improve financial and supply chain management of this essential programme.
