P105,000 bail out for Kagiso Senior

Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Wednesday March 9, 2016 17:51

The crisis at the 800-student Ramotswa school came to the fore recently after a full South East District Council meeting heard that learners were going for days without food. 

Last week, the outraged councillors dispatched a five-member delegation to observe matters at the school and make recommendations, which included suspending lessons if there was no other respite.

Yesterday, South East District chairman, Phenyo Segokgo, said the ministry had since released P105,000 that will sustain the school until the start of the new financial year in April.

“The Ministry gave the school P105,000. We are happy the matter is resolved and the school management will buy food which will sustain it until the beginning of the new financial year,” Segokgo said.

He said the school management had promised councillors that the problem would not arise again.

Meanwhile, the district’s Drought Household and Food Security Assessment Report shows that the provision of feed for primary schools was weak in 2015, with a 17 percent decline in food supply as a result of shortages across all commodities.

“Supply was inadequate due to beans being out of stock while other food commodities such as sorghum meal, samp, UHT milk, stewed steak and sunflower oil were not enough to cover quarterly supply,” said Kgomotso Kesianye, the principal district officer (development).

According to the report, UHT milk was unavailable from January to July 2015 due to contractual issues, while stewed steak was not provided because the supply contract had expired. Sorghum meal was only available between January and May, while tenders for Tsabana and Malutu elapsed mid-June.

“Distribution for this year was not good as we experienced food shortages towards end of the year, especially those which are supplied to health facilities.

“Our recommendations are to decentralise funds for food commodities. Government should consider permanent decentralisation of all functions for food relieve services to districts,” the report reads.