Children in Swaziland must
‘brace themselves for starvation’, according to a head teacher as once again
the government has failed to deliver food to schools.
This is part of a
long-running problem where government has not paid its bills to suppliers.
The Times of Swaziland, the only independent daily newspaper in the
kingdom ruled by King Mswati III, reported on Monday (11 September 2017) that
as the third school term opened food promised by the government had not been
delivered.
The Times reported there was once again ‘a serious food shortage in
most of the learning institutions’.
It added, ‘The emergency food
which was delivered before schools closed for the second term has already been
exhausted. The Ministry of Education and Training had promised that food for
the third term would be delivered during the school holidays but none of that
has happened.’
Head teacher of Emabheleni
Primary School Sibusiso Ndzinisa told the newspaper some pupils were sick and
on medication and depended on the food which was provided at school.
Musa Simelane, the head
teacher at Maphalaleni High School, said the pupils should brace themselves for
starvation because there was no available food in the school, the Times reported.
Food shortages have hit
Swazi schools all this year and the government school feeding scheme known as
zondle has collapsed.
In August 2017, members of
parliament in Swaziland accused the Ministry of Education and Training of lying
in a report on severe hunger in the kingdom’s schools.
They were told that a
crisis that has continued all year was over and that school committees were stealing food intended for
children.
A progress reported tabled
to the Swazi House of Assembly by Minister of Education and Training Phineas
Magagula was rejected. The shortage escalated after the government did not pay
its bills to suppliers. The food includes rice, mealie-meal, cooking oil,
beans, and peanut butter.
In a report in May 2017, the World
Food Program estimated 350,000 people of Swaziland’s
1.1 million population were in need of food assistance. WFP helped 65,473 of
them. It said it was regularly feeding 52,000 orphaned and vulnerable children
(OVC) aged under eight years at neighbourhood care points. About 45 percent of
all children in thought to be OVCs.
It reported chronic malnutrition affected 26 percent
of all children in Swaziland aged under five.
See also
‘CHILDREN
COULD SOON DIE OF HUNGER’
BAD FOOD POISONS 200 PUPILS
NO FOOD SO SCHOOLKIDS SENT HOME
HUNGER FORCES SCHOOLS TO CLOSE EARLY
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/02/hunger-forces-schools-to-close-early.html
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