Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says she supports a centralised procurement system as it gives the contractors the opportunity to negotiate prices.
This as the national department is intervening in a centralised procurement contract for the school feeding scheme in KwaZulu-Natal, which ran into difficulties at the start of the second term.
The collapsed programme has left learners in over 5 000 schools without food.
Motshekga says although the centralised system has failed in KwaZulu-Natal, it has the potential to save costs if implemented correctly.
“The direction that the province was taking is the correct direction. We’ve encountered problems. It’s the process that we embarked on, as we are going in the right direction, but central procurement is what, as the minister, I would advocate that provinces should go for. I’ve raised it with the Treasury into a Verizon Treasury to say, if you have got to get the economies of scale, is the effects of COVID with the price hikes and your budget cuts, the only way is to look at another delivery model that will help us for the economies of scale, which is what the province was doing. Unfortunately, we came through the difficult thing that we came through, but that’s our commitment to go for central procurement.”
Delivery of food to KZN schools begins: Nomarashiya Caluza
Meanwhile, Motshekga says their legal team is still considering contractual and legal issues associated with the termination of the contract with Pacina Retail in KwaZulu-Natal.
“The issues of contract financial and legal having been referred to the appropriate structures. As we navigate the process, we don’t break any laws , we don’t get into fruitless expenditure, wasteful expenditure, but all those things are technical. Even around the contract of Pacina, whether they said they were withdrawn or they have not withdrawn. We’ve agreed to refer those to a due process because there are legal, technical, and contractual issues. But there’s a concern, as you correctly say from Treasury, that you don’t go into fruitless and wasteful expenditure. Manage your contractual challenges also with the financial balance to ensure that there is no fruitless expenditure.”
SIU to probe awarding of KZN School Nutrition Programme tender:
