The KwaZulu-Natal Education Department yesterday made an undertaking to pay National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) service providers amid threats by the DA to have the department placed under administration for its “poor management” of the programme.
While the department insists that it has so far paid 78% of the NSNP service providers, the contractors claim that those who have been paid have not been paid in full.
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Siboniso Xulu, who is a member of the NSNP association representing the service providers, said that despite the government having set aside funds for the NSNP programme, the KZN Education Department has shifted the financial burden for running the programme to the service providers.
We have not been paid for the work we did in March and April. We are forced to use our own money to keep the feeding scheme going because if we don’t, the children will starve.
“As things stand, some of us have not been paid a cent in the last two months while those who have been paid, have been paid half of what is due to them.
“If the department is concerned about the children at school, then it should pay us for the services rendered,” he said.
The suppliers on Monday staged a sit-in at the department’s Pietermaritzburg offices in Langalibalele Street.
The stand-off between the department and the NSNP service providers happened amid concerns that the department was running out of money due to, among other things, budget cuts.
In a recent briefing to members of the KZN Legislature portfolio committee on Finance, KZN Department of Education (DoE) chief financial officer, Ntokozo Mlaba, warned that the department might not be able to pay the salaries of some of its teachers if additional funds were not secured in the current financial year.
However, DA KZN spokesperson on Education, Sakhile Mngadi, said the challenges faced by the department were due to “systemic failures”.
This is not an administrative hiccup — it is a gross dereliction of duty and a broader systemic failure. In simple terms, the DoE has made financial promises it cannot legally keep.
“This fiscal crisis has been aggravated by persistent cost of employee (CoE) over-expenditure. KZN’s DoE continues to increase its wage bill far beyond National Treasury’s allocation, ignoring the pressure it places on other essential programmes, including school infrastructure, textbook procurement and nutrition,” said Mngadi, who threatened that the party will push for the department to be placed under administration should it fail to address its challenges on time,.
On the other hand, the department denied that the non-payment of NSNP service providers was due to lack of funds.
“As of April 24, 2025, 78% of the payments were successfully processed.
“Subsequent attempts to finalise the remaining payments on April 25 and May 2 were unsuccessful due to technical difficulties linked to the implementation of a new financial system, BAS Version 6, which is an upgrade from the previous BAS Version 5.
The National Treasury’s IT team is currently working around the clock to resolve the system failures.
“The payment run is scheduled to take place [on Monday] for the remaining 22% unpaid service providers and are expected to receive their payments on May 8, 2025,” the department said.
KZN Education Department head Nkosinathi Ngcobo assured the service providers that everything was being done to ensure that in future they were paid on time.
“We acknowledge the concerns raised by our valued service providers and wish to assure them that the Department is doing everything possible to resolve the technical glitches affecting payment processes.
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“The problem has nothing to do with the financial difficulties of the department for the NSNP is paid from the grant allocation.
“We remain committed to transparency, timeous communication, and the uninterrupted provision of meals to our pupils across the province,” he said.