Gauteng schools have been distributing food parcels to poor learners as the coronavirus lockdown continues. Some schools are preparing daily food packs for learners to collect, while others have been calling parents every two weeks to pick up the food parcels.
The Department of Basic Education had been ordered by the High Court in Pretoria to continue the school feeding scheme even though not all learners were back at school because of lockdown restrictions.
Civic body, Equal Education, had taken the department to court to force them to feed as many as 9 million children who rely on the scheme.
In the video below, General Secretary of Equal Education, Noncedo Madubedube, says the Basic Education Department needs to ensure that learners still receive food:
A teacher, who co-ordinates the feeding scheme at a Soweto primary school, says, “The one that are not coming to school, except Grade 12, they are the ones that are coming to get their food parcels, not everyone. Beause some of them are shy, they think that my friend will look at me thinking I am poor, but some come and we use a class list. We know today from Grade 8 this and this came and we gave them 1,2,3.”
Today I’m visiting food banks across the province to ensure a fair process of food distribution. The system must be about reaching the 20% of Gauteng residents who are food insecure. There should be no patronage networks and no political interference in all processes. #COVID19SA pic.twitter.com/teNTRsmNkA
— David Makhura (@David_Makhura) April 14, 2020
