Durban - The state of the School Nutrition Programme will be in the spotlight when the Department of Education faces legal action from 82 disgruntled service providers.
Almost 2 million children in KwaZulu-Natal - who return to school on Monday after the holidays - rely on the programme, but the start of this school year was marked by chaos when the appointment of new service providers left many schools without food.
Now, 82 businesses that lost contracts in a tender reshuffle last year, have lodged a legal challenge against the department on Monday in the Durban High Court.
They argue that there were irregularities in the awarding of the tenders.
They say that, among many issues, some that won contracts did not have valid tax clearance certificates, a requirement of the tender.
In the past, service providers dealt directly with schools and school governing bodies were authorised to sel-ect suppliers. But in August, the department redrafted the policy, centralised the process within the department and authorised education department officials to decide on service providers.
The department dropped big suppliers and gave contracts instead to small enterprises and co-operatives.
It said their aim was to use the feeding scheme to uplift women and the youth in rural areas.
Education MEC, Senzo Mchunu, said the feeding scheme would go on as usual when schools reopened after the winter break, on Monday.
Daily News