Rotten cabbages and wilted carrots fit for orphans

| Thursday April 30, 2009 00:00

BOROLONG: Guardians of orphans are up in arms in Borolong over what they allege are rotten foodstuffs issued by the shops which supply them.

The beneficiaries claim they have been supplied with rotten fruit and vegetables.
'The shop dealer from Shashe Mooke gave me two small battered heads of cabbage and told me that it was supposed to be a single head if the cabbages were fresh,' said an 18-year old girl who was collecting food hampers for her two little brothers.

Mosetsana James said it was not only the cabbages that were not fresh, but the oranges and the carrots too. 'The meat is also slightly decayed,' she said sorrowfully.

The freshness of the foodstuffs is not the only issue of concern to the beneficiaries. Some shop owners are accused of scaling down the amount of food the orphans are entitled to.

The food basket for two orphans used to comprise 12.5kg mealie meal, 5kg sugar, a bag of oranges, 2 litres of cooking oil, 1kg samp and 500g beans. James said was surprised this month when she was given 5kg mealie meal, 2.5kg sugar, half a bag of oranges, 2 small bottles of cooking oil, and no samp and no beans though she signed a piece of paper indicating that she collected the full basket.

She said they used to have no problems when the tenders were awarded to the local shops owners.

A member of the Village Development Committee (VDC), who preferred to remain anonymous, said she was present when the orphans were given their supplies and concurred that some of the vegetables were not fresh. But she said the problem was that the guardians sent children whom unscrupulous suppliers took advantage of.

She would not answer certain questions, saying the complaints of the beneficiaries would be attended to immediately.

The woman said she was not given the food list for each group of orphans. 'The people who were giving food to the children told me they did not bring the list and promised to make copies. I have not received any,' she said.

The normal procedure is to give her the lists before the food is supplied because it is her duty to check if every listed item is supplied in the specified amount and quality. 'Why was the tender not given to the local shops?,' asks the grandmother of a 14-year-old girl.

The woman, who also preferred to remain anonymous, said that the service delivered by the shops is very poor. She said her granddaughter had brought home two small heads of rotten cabbage, mouldy tomatoes and wilted carrots. She also complained of the distance they have to travel to the kgotla where they get their supplies.

'We used to get fresh vegetables from local shops without having to travel such a distance for rotten and stale foodstuffs,' she said.

The 'old lady' also claimed that orphans in towns get more food than those in rural areas, saying she was apeaking from the experience of having lived in a nearby town. 'What is superior about orphans in towns?,' she asked rhetorically.

Johnson Mujangi is the former chairperson of the local social welfare committee which he said had now collapsed because its members did not get even a stipend for monitoring the shops.

Mujangi is now a member of the VDC, who is determined to resume the work of monitoring the shops to ensure the orphans are not poisoned. He said he is not happy with the new development of awarding tenders to shops as far away as Mathangwane and Shashe Mooke when there are enough shops in Borolong that have been 'doing great in past years'.

He said although he is happy with the services the two local shops currently offer to the sick and the old, it will take time before he adjusts to the new system. The Senior Assistant Council Secretary in Tonota, Kwele Puso, said that he was not aware of the situation.

He said his office would make an effort to go to Borolong to talk to the VDC, as it is the committee that used to monitor the whole process. Puso lamented the ignorance of those who care for the orphans. 'It is time we educate them to know their rights. Such cases are to be reported, not just taking food that could harm human health.'

Kwele said taking meat out of a freezer for a whole day and returning it to the freezer is risky to the health of those who eventually eat such meat and that issue has to be addressed as soon as possible.

Puso said he is also not aware of any changes that have been made to the food basket. But it is not possible to terminate the tenders as they have already been awarded, he said, adding that his office would make sure that there was proper monitoring.