Kwazulu to speed up payouts

THE KwaZulu-Natal department of education has announced changes meant to fast-track the payment to co-operatives and contractors involved in the school nutrition programme.

THE KwaZulu-Natal department of education yesterday announced changes meant to fast-track the payment to co-operatives and contractors involved in the school nutrition programme.

The programme cost the province about R1,1bn and benefits mainly poor and orphaned children. The department said delays in payments had threatened to close down businesses and co-operatives that supplied food to schools.

About 1,779 small- and medium enterprises and 261 cooperatives, run mainly by poor rural women, supply food to schools. In the province 5,203 of the 6,000 schools are recipients of the government’s national school nutrition programme.

The nutrition programme also came under fire recently when it emerged that some principals at KwaZulu-Natal schools had refused to sign invoices unless they were paid bribes, thus preventing service providers from getting paid on time. As a result some had threatened to stop supplying schools with food until they received payment.

The MEC for education, Senzo Mchunu, ordered an immediate probe. He said principals implicated would be investigated and would face the wrath of the department if they were found guilty of any wrongdoing.

“It has come to our attention that there are some principals in the department who deliberately frustrate the work done by service providers appointed as suppliers to the national school nutrition programme in our schools.

“In light of new developments in the national school nutrition programme, and the increased numbers of service providers employed in the programme, the department of education in KwaZulu-Natal has revised the current payment system.

“The system of payment to service providers entailed a long process and many signatories to endorse claims before payment was made.”

Mr Mchunu said changes to the systems included that only two school officials would now sign the vendor form handed in by service providers, and that schools had to provide district officials with invoices by the 7th of every month and follow up with proof that service providers were paid on time.