A rotten food scandal
A YEAR ago the child pictured above, Lindokuhle “Lindo” Boya, became the face of our reporting into the collapse of the Eastern Cape education department's community-based school feeding scheme.
We reported how this six-year-old child at Potsdam's Thandulwazi Junior Primary School had not had a proper meal in a week because of the collapse of this scheme. After more than a year of reporting into this story we revealed on Monday the details of an interim report by auditors probing this affair. The report confirmed all of what we reported in face of villification and threats - and went further.
These findings revealed the startling collapse of pretty much the entire administration of the community-based school feeding programme, costing the taxpayer R230m or so. But those figures mean nothing compared to the suffering inflicted on young school pupils who went hungry because of the mess.
Many people will not know this, but the Dispatch team in East London were so moved by the plight of the school and its pupils at the time of our original reporting that we have adopted it as a project, helping arrange facilities and equipment there. For a time we even arranged for food to be delivered there.
Dispatch staffer Andrea Jonker-Bryce has continued to arrange donations and supplies for the school. Yesterday we sent a team out to the school, and boy, are things different. Children are happy, being fed and life has changed remarkably over the last year.
And who says journos are heartless souls who only care about selling newspapers?
AND NOW...(Pics by Alan Eason)
August 27th, 2007 - 20:13
Good to hear that something is happening on the school feeding front!
August 28th, 2007 - 10:16
It is high time that the sham has been exposed, and it is fitting that an auditors report effectively “seals the deal”.
Obviously, the Department concerned cannot handle money at all – scary thought, but it is the reality. Perhaps an outsourced auditing firm, coupled with an out-sourced private sector management and co-ordination team, can have strategic oversight of the project. Never rely on government to do anything right – as always, economic might and know-how resides with the private sector. Auditors keep the cents in line, whilst management makes sure everything runs smoothly and efficiently, without gross misappropriation occuring. Obviously, trust must take a realistic back seat when dealing with millions of rands, even if family is involved.
Keep on hitting these offenders hard, Dispatch! Perhaps run an expose of the offending, corrupt bodies that have actively defrauded the department. Then an expose showing just how incompetent the department really is. There is nothing quite like abject humiliation and loss of face to provoke a response, and get some action going!