Pacina Retail Pty Limited, the company contracted to supply food to schools in the KwaZulu-Natal province, says its service level agreement with the provincial education department remains in place despite developments in the saga of the collapsed National School Nutrition Programme.
This is despite the fact that the Department of Education issued a circular on Wednesday stating that the company had indeed withdrawn its services.
The collapsed programme has left learners in over 5 000 schools without food.
In a confirmed leaked letter that Pacina Retail Pty Limited had sent to the provincial department of education, the company says the Service Level Agreement to supply food to schools remains in place.
They say they intend to temporarily opt out of this agreement until the issue of non-payment of some invoices for work done is met.
The email also states that the notice period in the Service Level Agreement is 21 business days, not the Department’s 7 days.
The company says they remain committed to the implementation of the tender and have already sourced goods for May and June.
Spokespeople of the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department could not be reached for comment.
