The KwaZulu-Natal Youth Parliament erupted into chaos as young people challenged Education MEC Mbali Fraser over school kids in the province starving due to a R2-billion feeding scheme tender scandal.
The Youth Parliament was sitting in Indwedwe, north of Durban, on 15 and 16 June to commemorate the Soweto uprising of 1976.
The first leg of the sitting on Thursday turned into an uproar when IFP Youth Brigade KZN secretary and eThekwini councillor Mncedisi Nxumalo disrupted Fraser’s speech, calling on her to apologise to young people over her department’s failure to address the nutrition crisis in schools.
Nxumalo said the house would adjourn if she failed to apologise or resign with immediate effect.
“You cannot address this house with that dark cloud of shame you have created. Over five million kids are starving at schools because your department has not delivered food to them. You even gave a R2 billion school nutrition tender to Manzini Zungu of Pacina [Retail] and chased away young companies from the programme. You need to apologise or resign,” said Nxumalo.
Fraser tried to continue her address without apologising but the pressure forced her to finally acknowledge her department’s failures. She said she understood the crisis and apologised for the lack of meals for school kids.
On Friday, the IFP Youth Brigade, led by its national chairperson Sanele Zondo, resorted to a mass protest at the offices of KZN Premier Nomsa Dube-Ncube in Pietermaritzburg, insisting the premier should expel the Education MEC.
The education department is also facing anger from suppliers complaining that they have not yet been paid for food delivered to schools in April.
Meanwhile, Pacina Retail is fighting with the department as it wants the R50 million payment it is owed for the distribution undertaken in April.
