Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has revealed that the government has allocated billions of rand for the school feeding scheme in all nine provinces in the last three years.
Motshekga said in the 2020/21 financial year provinces were given a combined R7.6 billion for the school feeding scheme.
She said this was increased to R8.1bn in the following financial year.
Motshekga said in the 2022/23 financial year the school nutrition programme was given R8.5bn.
For the current financial year the allocation has been increased to R9.2bn.
Questions on the national school nutrition programme started a few weeks ago when the scheme collapsed in KwaZulu-Natal.
This was after the provincial department had decided to centralise the programme.
But weeks later the province was forced to pull the plug on the scheme as thousands of children, who depend on the programme for meals, did not receive food for weeks.
The ANC has demanded answers on how the programme has been bungled.
The provincial department of education has gone back to the old system where local suppliers provide the school nutrition programme.
Motshekga has been asked written parliamentary questions by the DA, on how much has been spent on the nutrition programme for the past three years.
Motshekga said the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape receive most of the allocation for the programme.
The Western Cape, Northern Cape and the Free State receive less than the other three provinces.
Current Affairs