Call for king to intervene in feeding EC pupils

Parents and teachers of 35 schools that have had their school nutrition programme stopped are seeking the intervention of AmaXhosa King Zwelonke Sigcawu.

Since April, the schools with about 2,500 pupils have not been receiving food and were told by the department of education that monies for the food would be released “soon”.

One of the parents, Tutu Godwana, said the department of education was gambling with their children’s futures.

“When the ruling government wanted our votes they promised us education, but now they want to take that education away from our children. They are now taking us back to the olden days where the black child was not educated,” he said.

“We are not asking for a lot, just that the children are fed,” he said.

Parents said hungry schoolchildren were unable to concentrate. Some schools had had to cut their school days by an hour because learning was not possible.

In some schools, parents and teachers have been donating food.

“It is hard to eat our own lunches because we can eat while the children we are supposed to be teaching are going hungry,” one teacher said.

Mpisi Matshayana, the chairperson of a crisis committee set up among all the affected schools, said they were not interested in the politics taking place in Bhisho but they just wanted the children to be fed.

“We are asking government to deposit money into the schools’ accounts so that the children can be fed,” Matshayana said.

“We want the king to intervene because all these schools are in his jurisdiction. We are even prepared to take the legal route.”

Speaking on behalf of Sigcawu, Nkosi Phathuxolo Tyhali said: “The king has heard their plight and he has promised to write a letter to education MEC Mandla Makupula asking him to explain what is going on in the schools.”