Court battle over Gauteng's R9 billion school feeding scheme

The Gauteng Department of Education’s (GDE) R9 billion school nutrition programme has run into serious challenges, with one company demanding a rerun of the process that saw the contract shared between dozens of firms.

Umnothowethu Trading Enterprise has hauled the department to the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg over the awarding of the contract to several suppliers last month.

The company is unhappy with its bid being rejected by GDE after it was disqualified for allegedly not submitting a valid Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act certificate, which it disputes.

The company is seeking for the court to interdict the department from implementing or giving effect to its decision to award the tender pending a review application it intends to launch.

In addition, the company wants the contracts concluded to be set aside and the matter to be remitted to the GDE for fresh determination.

In papers filed at the high court last month, Umnothowethu Trading Enterprise said the decision not to appoint it put nearly 40 000 vulnerable children at risk as it was previously appointed to feed school children between 2017 and 2019 and that its deal was extended to March 2020.

Last year, the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, declared the first tender unlawful and set it aside.

However, the high court did not set aside any contracts concluded with several companies and suspended the declaration of invalidity until February 28, 2025.

The company further said the court case demonstrated that this was not the first time the GDE has come under fire for its irregular procurement in the national school nutrition programme.

The department has also drawn criticism from the DA, which accused it of shielding officials in its tender evaluation committee that adjudicated the bids for the R9bn feeding scheme tender.

"This scheme has left over 1.6 million Gauteng learners, primarily from underprivileged areas, at risk of missing out on much-needed nutrition and learning on empty stomachs," said DA Gauteng shadow Education MEC Sergio Isa Dos Santos.

The province’s official opposition stated that the initial R3bn tender was unlawfully awarded in July 2024.

"Following the R3bn tender scandal exposed by the DA Gauteng in 2024, where allegations of irregular procurement and substandard food deliveries emerged, the recent awarding of a R9 billion school nutrition tender is now under scrutiny," Dos Santos explained, adding that this revealed a concerning pattern of corruption and mismanagement that directly jeopardises learners’ well-being.

The party accused senior GDE officials of conspiring to favour non-compliant service providers, purportedly soliciting bribes and deliberately excluding compliant applicants who refused to oblige.

According to the DA, the high court rightfully deemed the initial appointment of the panel illegal and fraudulent and mandated that the tender process be reinitiated.

"However, evidence from a recently lodged court case suggests that the same method? is being replicated," Dos Santos said.

The DA said illegal activity of including companies in exchange for bribes persisted even after the tender process was restarted.