Cape Town — Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, dismissed the allegations that the school feeding schemes have been responsible for the foodborne illness incidents.
After the government announced that all foodborne illnesses would be classified as a national disaster, Gwarube sought to address the concerns over the National School Nutrition Programme.
Speaking during a media briefing on the spate of food-related incidents, she said investigations have not linked any food-poisoning incidents to school nutrition programmes as the government attempts to regulate spaza shops and informal businesses, EWN reported.
She explained that the department would monitor the situation.
“However, we are also mindful of the fact that children are buying snacks that are taken into schools and these are shared. And so that’s why we have to be part of this multidisciplinary effort,” she added.
What the DBE is doing to keep the National School Nutrition Programme safe from contamination: 👇🏾 https://t.co/No3oNORjmE
— Siviwe Gwarube (@Siviwe_G) November 21, 2024
According to eNCA, Gwarube said the department has conducted inspections into the School Nutrition Programme to determine if they have been compromised.
“We have found that a lot of the cases where children have died, these cases have not emanated from the School Nutrition Programme. We have looked at the incident that took place two weeks ago where children fell ill due to samp that they ate at school. We looked into that and we realised that it was not linked to any foodborne illnesses,” she said.
She said the department would be looking to ban the use of insecticides and pesticides on school premises as it is for industrial and chemical use.
“We are also taking further steps and guidelines to guide provinces on how to make sure food in schools is protected from any kind of foodborne illnesses. Number two, we are also making sure we are insulating the School Nutrition Programme,” she added, saying the programme, which feeds more than nine million learners a day, adheres to strict guidelines.
Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube says as the Department of Education, their priority is to ensure that the National School Nutrition Programme, is protected from being compromised. She was speaking at a briefing that outlined the government’s action plan to manage… pic.twitter.com/rhbxdfitfC
— eNCA (@eNCA) November 21, 2024
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Picture: X/@Siviwe_G
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
