South Africa: ECD Nutrition Tender Postponed Eight Times As Eastern Cape Children Wait for Food
[Daily Maverick] The closing date for a Department of Basic Education tender for the implementation of an early childhood development pilot nutrition programme has been extended eight times over the past seven months, igniting a call for accelerated action among civil society groups in the sector.
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) in South Africa has repeatedly delayed the closing date for a tender related to an early childhood development (ECD) pilot nutrition programme. This has left civil society groups in the ECD sector calling for urgent action. Tshepo Mantjé, ECD coordinator for the Equality Collective and Real Reform for ECD, highlighted that the tender's deadline has been postponed eight times since its initial announcement.
The original closing date was set for April 9, 2026, but the latest extension is now October 23, 2025. The pilot programme aims to provide nutrition to 26,620 children at 1,035 early learning centres in the Eastern Cape that are not yet receiving the department's ECD subsidy of R24 per child per day. Given that the programme must be implemented within the remaining six months of the 2026/27 financial year, there is growing concern that valuable resources will remain unspent.
Written by urgent.news from AllAfrica Health's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
