26 Feb 2018

Senior assistant council secretary for Letlhakeng Sub-district, Mr Nigel Mangoye has said a batch of samp bags that was discovered to have gone bad at Serinane Primary School might have been contaminated at the storage facility.

Responding to enquiries from the Letlhakeng Sub-district councillors on why the council was feeding students contaminated food, Mr Mangoye said the batch indicated that the expiry date was September this year, meaning that it was still edible when it was distributed to the school, but said that weather conditions such as too much heat might have contributed to the samp going bad before time.

He said it was only unfortunate that the issue was never reported to his office by the relevant authorities at the school, although he said the cooks at the school indicated that the samp was indeed found to have some small worms.

He assured the councillors that a team of experts had been sent to the school as well as other schools in the area to assess the situation and take appropriate measures.
Mr Mangoye was responding after the councillor for Mantshwabisi, Councillor Meshack Tshenyego enquired on why the council was feeding spoilt samp to Serinane Primary School students.

Councillor Tshenyego indicated that the food was likely to have dire consequences on the health of the students. On another issue, Mr Mangoye informed the councillors that the council took a decision to redeploy the council’s night watchmen at Ditshegwane Primary School and replace them with private security guards after constant complaints by the school head that the night watchmen had a tendency of absconding from duty.

He however, admitted that it was only unfortunate that the night watchmen might not have been properly informed of the arrangement, which led to a clash between them and the private security guards as both reported for duty at the same time.

Mr Mangoye however, promised that the council would correct the anomaly. The councillor for Ditshegwane-Maboane, Mr Tshabahule Kgotlhang had also wanted to know why the council employed a private security company at Ditshegwane Primary School when it already had a council watchman manning the premises.

Councillor Kgotlhang said the move had led to an altercation between the two as each suspected the other of being a thief. Councillor for Ngware ward, Mr Ontatlhile Selatlho however, wondered if proper disciplinary procedure was followed when the night watchmen absconded from duty.

He said procedures such as disciplinary hearings and warning letters should have been done before the council engaged a private security company without the knowledge of the night watchmen. Mr Mangoye however, clarified that such disciplinary procedures are taken at supervisory level by the school head. Ends