Meals are cooked outside at Boxahuku Primary in Vhembe East because the kitchen can no longer be used due to the stench from the school toilets

When it rains, learners at Boxahuku Primary in Qaza village, Vhembe East, often go hungry. For many of the learners at this no-fee school, the food they get at school is often their only meal for that day.

The school's new enviro toilets were built just metres away from the food preparation area. Due to the foul smell, the volunteers who cook the food, now prepare meals under a tree.

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According to the school governing body (SGB), 600 learners benefit from the feeding scheme. But when it rains, the temporary cooking site floods, making meal prep near impossible.

"Two years ago, the Limpopo Department of Education installed waterless, chemical-free environmental loos at the school. The problem is that they were placed near the kitchen where meals were prepared. The smell became unbearable, and staff said it made them sick," said SGB chairperson Jerry Hlongwane.

He also said meals can't be cooked when they run out of money to buy firewood.

Hlongwane said the school urgently needs a structure for meal preparation.

"The principal submitted an infrastructure request, and the Polokwane circuit acknowledged it and promised to build a temporary structure. However, nothing has been done to date, despite endless follow-ups," he said.

According to Stats SA, Limpopo accounts for 18% of the National School Nutrition Programme, making it the second largest provincial contributor, behind KwaZulu-Natal, feeding about 1.6 million learners.

The department of education had not responded to our questions at the time of publication.