CRYING SHAME: ECD nutrition tender postponed eight times as Eastern Cape children wait for food

Civil society groups in the early childhood development (ECD) sector have called on the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to get its funded pilot nutrition programme for early learning centres “moving” after a more than six-month delay in awarding the contract for the project.

Tshepo Mantjé, ECD coordinator with the Equality Collective and Real Reform for ECD, noted that the closing date for the tender had been postponed eight times since it was initially published. The original closing date was 9 April 2026; the most recent is 23 October.

The pilot programme is meant to reach 26,620 children at 1,035 entry-level, bronze-registered ECD centres in the Eastern Cape, meaning that it would bolster nutrition for early learning programmes that do not yet have access to the department’s ECD subsidy of R24 per child per day.

“With less than six months to go [of the 2026/27 financial year], we are deeply concerned about another year going by with money not being spent. The major concern is that currently... the pilot was meant to feed… children at about 1,035 centres that are bronze-registered, meaning these centres don’t receive the subsidy, reflecting that the children who are there are the most in need,” said Mantjé.

Funding for the ECD pilot nutrition programme was first set aside in the 2024/25 budget, standing at R197-million. This was increased to R336-million in 2025/26, with the most recent allocation in the 2026/27 budget going up to R772-million, for use over the medium-term expenditure framework.

Unspent budgets

The concerns around the implementation of the pilot nutrition programme come at a time when the Department of Basic Education’s under expenditure for 2025/26 is in the spotlight. The department failed to spend R743-million for the financial year ending in March 2026, meaning these funds will be surrendered to the National Revenue Fund. 

The ECD nutrition pilot accounted for almost 40% of this under expenditure, said Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube at the presentation of the department’s 2025/26 Annual Report before the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education on 6 October. She described the situation as “unacceptable”.

“I think it’s absolutely unacceptable … that we have any kind of under expenditure, particularly as a country that is trying to deal with the issue of child hunger, [and] especially in that province [Eastern Cape],” Gwarube told the portfolio committee.

“I will be engaging with the DG [director-general] specifically around that to find out exactly what has happened, why has there been a delay. There must be consequence management. I can’t defend the indefensible, and that pilot project is needed in that province. And frankly, we should hold ourselves to a far higher standard than we currently do.”

According to a News24 report, the underspending on ECD in the 2025/26 financial year amounted to R389.3-million.

Apart from the ECD nutrition pilot, other areas of underspending in the goods and services category of the department’s 2025/26 budget were an ECD resource package, and the Basic Education Employment Initiative training project. In its presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, the department noted that requests for a roll-over of unspent funds had been submitted to National Treasury.

Overall, the department spent R37.5-billion, or 98.6%, of its 2025/26 budget.

Questions and delays

Jessica Ronaason, innovation and advocacy manager at the Do More Foundation, said that there had been very little public communication about the factors behind the repeated delays in the tender process.

Her sentiment was echoed by Mantjé, who said that Real Reform for ECD felt “frankly ignored” after sending multiple requests for engagement on the pilot programme to the department, only to receive no response.

During the portfolio committee meeting on 6 October, Dr Granville Whittle, Deputy Director-General for Social Mobilisation and Support Services in the Department of Basic Education, said that while a tender for the nutrition pilot had been issued, the department had made some adjustments to the process following comments and questions from potential service providers. The department considered it important to incorporate the necessary changes to ensure that lessons could be learned and that a cost-effective solution could be developed, as this was a pilot model, he said.

Ronaason questioned whether this explanation was sufficient, given the length of the delay in awarding the contract.

Looking ahead at the remainder of the 2026/27 financial year, she said: “One would highlight that it’s a lot of money to spend in a short space of time, just in terms of readiness for implementation, as well as procurement processes. That need for... potential training on the ground, and whether or not that can be actioned still in this financial year, is put into question. And I think that’s where further explanation as to the implementation planning would be supportive because it would allow for better understanding. In the absence of details, it’s very difficult not to be concerned about the perceived inaction.”

Daily Maverick reached out to Department of Basic Education spokesperson Terence Khala for further details on the department’s 2025/26 underexpenditure, as well as the tender process and future timeline of the ECD pilot nutrition programme, but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Right to nutrition

Mantjé noted that children had an immediately realisable right to basic nutrition, and referenced President Cyril Ramaphosa’s commitment to ending child stunting and tackling malnutrition by 2030.

“The [ECD] subsidy that is being provided is not enough at R24, with 40% [R9.60] of that being ring-fenced for nutrition. And there’s the fact that the subsidy, which in itself is not enough, is not reaching all children. The right to nutrition basic nutrition is for all children, whether they are at a subsidised centre or non-subsidised centre,” he said.

“So, money going back... speaks to the department not upholding its constitutional obligations to young children.”

Delays in the rollout of the pilot project also had a knock-on effect, setting back the timeline for implementing an ECD nutrition programme at a national level, he highlighted.

“Practitioners are continuing to have to pull out of their own pockets to provide food for young children... Even the food that is being given right now puts a lot of strain on ECD practitioners... We need the state to recognise that this burden cannot fall on ECD practitioners and families for any longer,” said Mantjé. DM