Basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube has put the brakes on her department’s plans to issue an almost R10bn tender for a single supplier to provide daily meals to millions of schoolchildren across the country.
This comes after Gwarube recently discovered her department had invited bids for a tender to centralise procurement for the national school nutrition programme from January through a “managing agent” and apparently as part of its modernisation project.
The R10bn tender was quietly issued by the department when it had no minister as the ANC and other parties were engaged in negotiating the formation of a government of national unity. Whistleblowers in the department alerted Gwarube to the tender as they suspected corruption.
The bidding process closed on Thursday.
The Sunday Times can reveal that Gwarube this week instructed basic education director-general Mathanzima Mweli to halt the awarding of the contract until she had satisfied herself about its value and legal issues around it.
Gwarube is concerned about the processes followed in awarding such a large contract (R9.8bn) to a single entity and its capacity to reach 10-million pupils across the country.
She is seeking legal advice and has also sought further advice from the National Treasury.
I have raised concerns ... focusing on the capacity of any single service provider to reach more than 9-million learners every day
— Basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube
Gwarube, a former DA chief whip, said that before assuming office, the department’s management team conceptualised a school nutrition modernisation programme which would see the centralisation of the supply of food to pupils.
“I have raised some concerns about this, particularly focusing on the integrity of the procurement process for such a large expenditure and the capacity of any single service provider to reach more than 9-million learners across the country every day,” said Gwarube.
“Additionally, I need to guarantee access to school nutrition to millions of learners; high centralisation of this kind does introduce high risk of this not being realised.”
Gwarube said she was not interfering in procurement processes but playing an important oversight role as the executive authority of the department.
“Millions of learners depend on this meal provision for their sole meal of the day. To this end, I have requested the department to halt this process while I am appraised of the details of this modernisation strategy.
“In addition, it’s important for me to engage with my provincial colleagues and the legal team along with Treasury. As a newly appointed minister, I must look after the interest of the learners.
“I cannot preside over a system where learners go hungry due to inefficiencies of a new system,” she said.
While the current system is not perfect a new system has to be thoroughly investigated and meet all legal and good governance standards, with the support of the provinces which will implement the strategy, said Gwarube.
The government’s feeding scheme provides daily meals to 9.77-million pupils in 19,000 schools.
The programme is funded through a R9.8bn conditional grant.
The budget for the financial year ending March 2025 is R9,798,106,000.
The department says five provinces — Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Western Cape - follow a centralised procurement model whereby provincial departments award procurement and distribution contracts to service providers.
The Eastern Cape, Free State, Northern Cape and North West have a decentralised model in which funds are transferred directly to schools.
An internal document seen by the Sunday Times states that despite impressive reach and impact, the feeding scheme has been plagued by an array of problems. Among these, the document states, are inefficiencies highlighted across the supply value chain including late and under delivery, the appointment of service providers with no experience in food procurement and supply chains buying from big retail markets with no economic benefit for the programme.
The department cited service providers who deliver poor quality food, with inadequate traceability of food safety procedures, production batch numbers and associated records and a failure to efficiently use a tracking system to monitor deliveries, stock and quality within the system.
Millions of learners depend on this meal provision for their sole meal of the day. To this end, I have requested the department to halt this process while I am appraised of the details of this modernisation strategy
— Basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube
According to the document which was presented to Gwarube after she summoned her officials on Thursday, a centralised system will deliver an improved expenditure model that leverages on economies of scale.
It also promises efficient and electronic stock management, buying directly from producers and manufacturers, sourcing products in provinces, full traceability of food safety, batch numbers and associated records, interactive logistic controls and timely deliveries using regional and provincial warehousing and local economic empowerment of women, youth and people living with disability who will be prioritised.
The department wanted to phase in the new model from next January, starting with two provinces, adding another two in April and two more from October 2025. The rest of the provinces would join in 2026.
Meanwhile, lawyers representing several Eastern Cape-based businesses supplying food to the provinces’ schools have also raised concerns about the tender. They want an investigation into the critical elements of the required services and/or goods, as well as clarification of amendments to the tender specifications and mandatory requirements.
In an urgent letter to the department dated August 14, law firm Kaplan Blumberg Attorneys said the specifications and mandatory requirements in the advertised tender bid invitation came as a surprise to its clients and left them with more questions than answers.
“From the contents of this letter you will be left with no doubt as to our clients’ position and views, however, from the outset we record that the inclusion of the current specifications and mandatory requirements in the tender bid invitation will lead to a less competitive bidding process, which will only be to the detriment of the public.”
The lawyers charge that the tender bid invitation does not appear to be based on any objective or logical reasoning, and will result in the unfair, unjustifiable, and detrimental exclusion of several well-established and competitive business entities.
The law firm suggested that the tender process was not fair, open and transparent to their clients and that they were ready to proceed with alternative and suitable legal avenues available to them, pending the department's response.
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