By Bonelwa Nogqaza and Rebecca Bank
This blog highlights growing concerns raised by rural communities in Tsolo and surrounding areas over increasing incidents of theft of meals meant for school children provided by the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP). These incidents not only undermine a critical initiative designed to provide healthy and nutritious meals for school children but potentially denies these students the opportunity of decent education. This blog also sheds light on the wider issue of how communities are grappling with acute hunger and food insecurity in Tsolo.
Source: National Development Plan 2030 https://evaluations.dpme.gov.za/images/gallery/DPME%20-%20National%20School%20Nutrition.pdf
At a government engagement hosted by the Women RISE Project earlier this year, the head of the NSNP acknowledged the program’s challenges during and after COVID-19. These included the World Health Organisation’s halting of deworming tablet donations in the 2023/2024 financial year as well as difficulties integrating local smallholder farmers into the feeding supply chain due to strict Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) requirements. Additionally, the representative expressed concerns about funding, noting that 97% of the budget is allocated solely to feeding, leaving little for infrastructure and other essentials. During the pandemic, food parcels (maize, fruits, vegetables, oils, etc.) were distributed to rural schools, with children fetching them on-site. However, this solution created dissatisfaction among the broader community, as families who also faced hunger were upset that the parcels were only enough for the children.
More recently in Tsolo the disappearance of school food has been a topic of concern in the village lately. Suspicions have been raised against the cooks, who are often aunties, at local schools that some villagers accusing them of stealing food items like tin fish and cooking oil for their families. These suspicions arose after observing that school food was not reaching all learners as it had in the past and as a result some staff members were fired and replaced. Although these acts have serious consequences for the school goers, the issue raises deeper questions about how the persistent threat of poverty and hunger in theses rural households are driving the staff to steal meals.
A recent incident reported on Facebook, where school cooks in Mtata were caught stealing food items, highlights the broader issue of poverty and hunger in our communities. Even working-class individuals struggle to maintain their households, leading some school cooks to see an opportunity to save food for their families. At the local school, it is not only the school aunts that conduct these acts, the outgoing School Governing Body (SGB) members were also suspected of defrauding the school and stealing some of the money that was meant to buy the school groceries. They took advantage of this because during their term, there was no one monitoring the groceries that they buy for the school. Some villages suggested that the local school principal had been deliberately turning a blind eye to these issues until the current SGB raised them. However, others speculation that this has been an ongoing issue and people are choosing to keep quiet and only now are these matters being addressed diligently.
A week ago, the issue of school nutrition food going missing resurfaced, but this time with a different set of suspects. A group of young men, known to be involved in drug use (Amaphara), are believed to have broken into the school and stolen the food, allegedly to sell it and fund their drug habit. This incident raises serious concerns about safety in the village, particularly in light of the underlying issues of poverty, unemployment, and drug abuse among youth. The intersection of these issues is pushing villagers to the margins, leaving them vulnerable and exposed to harsh realities. The theft of school food is merely a symptom of a larger problem, one that requires a comprehensive approach to address the root causes of poverty, unemployment, and drug abuse in the community.
On the other hand, when we are looking at the role that the school nutrition programme plays, the observation is that it fills such a crucial gap especially for those children that are coming from destitute households. At least they know that even when they leave home with empty stomachs in the morning, they will be served a meal at school. In May this year for a week the school nutritious programme did not deliver food. It was believed that they had issues of administration and budget that they needed to resolve this period of a week. Families were complaining and stressing about the lunchboxes for their children as they were encouraged by the school to provide their children with lunchboxes which most of them could not afford. As a result the majority of learners in Tsolo bunked school in that week since they could not concentrate in class on empty stomachs.
In light of these recurring thefts, concerned families have urged the school’s SGB to act as watchdogs, given the absence of security at local schools. This raises important questions about the role of schools in communities facing acute hunger and poverty. The NSNP has become so central to the school’s function that it detracts from other critical educational elements. These thefts reflect a growing desperation, as hunger increasingly affects not only the children but entire families.
One suggestion, raised during the government engagement mentioned earlier, is that the NSNP could be expanded to include local mothers and smallholder farmers in the supply chain. Such an initiative could evolve into a broader economic development project, promoting greater self-reliance and food security within the community. However, this would require a coordinated, multi-departmental approach to ensure all aspects of rural community life are addressed and that the hunger children remains a top priority.
Comments