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Thousands of KwaZulu-Natal children have been forced to go to school on an empty stomach. This comes after the collapse of the KZN National School Nutrition Programme due to tender irregularities and corruption. The provincial Department of Education is yet to provide information regarding this issue.

Education stakeholders criticise the Federal Government (FG) decision to spend N999 million on public primary school students under the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme. Investigations revealed that some students denied the existence of the programme while food vendors claimed that the programme had become a means for public office holders to embezzle public funds, as they did not receive what the government had promised them.

In the Congo, in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP), the School Feeding Department has launched a training seminar. Trainers will be deployed to the various departments with school canteens, to train the members of the management committees in the operation of these canteens.

A number of senior officials in the Eastern Cape have been accused of corruption in relation to an R1 billion-school nutrition programme in the province; another case involves irregularities in relation to school infrastructure provisioning or allegations of corruption in the awarding of a contract to EduSolutions by the Limpopo Department of Education. The contract for the procurement of textbooks for schools in the province was canceled in 2012 after millions had been paid to EduSolutions.

The African Union report shows that at least 57 percent of people who make contact with schools in Malawi pay bribes. Informal payments threaten children’s rights and welfare. For example, informal charges by teachers for teaching, and for additional items such as school meals, books, uniforms or exams can drive poorer students in particular to miss school. In addition, the acquisition of fake or fraudulent qualifications affect the learning outcomes of children.

Two people are in hot water after allegedly defrauding the Mpumalanga Department of Education of an estimated R6-million. The two appeared in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Thursday over their alleged involvement in a bogus school-feeding scheme. The Hawks said that in 2011 the accused allegedly submitted several fraudulent invoices to the Department of Education for services never rendered. An employee of the Department of Health allegedly recruited owners of various companies to submit these invoices. The money was allegedly deposited into the said businesses accounts, as well as individual accounts and was subsequently withdrawn and shared amongst the syndicate.

According to the 2013 Auditor General's report, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology failed to follow procurement rules in the year under review, thus violating the National Public Procurement Authority Act 2004. The report states that procurement procedures were not followed by ministry officials in violation of annual procurement plan of the ministry which stipulates a National Competitive Bidding and International Competitive Bidding methods to procure food for government boarding schools; teaching and learning materials; and textbooks.

The President has denied the claim of schools to charge monetary lunch fee for pupils under the Universal Primary Education (UPE), arguing that this program was conceived for poor families that could not afford additional fees. Besides, he declared that the pay of un-necessary amounts of money will create additional barriers to the free UPE as the ones that already exist; expensive uniforms, books, tours and others items.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been successfully running school feeding programmes around the world for years. But in Ghana an independent audit recently revealed that the programme is mired in corruption. By May 2008, 477,714 pupils in 987 schools accross Ghana were benefiting from the programme and according to the Local Government Ministry, with an average of a 40 percent increase in primary school enrolment since the programme was introduced. But an independent school feeding motoring report said that enrolment in 14 selected schools nationwide increased only by 21 per cent between the 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 academic year.