The Ministry on Friday confirmed a report that 500 bags of maize meal had been stored at the Max Makushe Secondary School and not delivered to the intended beneficiaries.

Last week, Kavango Regional Governor John Thighuru set the alarm bells ringing when he visited the school himself and reported that in his view the food was no longer fit for human consumption.

It is believed to have been stored there for at least six months.

Education Ministry spokesperson Toivo Mvula told The Namibian on Friday that the Ministry would send officials from its head office to investigate and verify the reports.

The company Meal Management Services holds the contract for the supply and delivery of food to primary schools in the Kavango, Kunene, Omusati, Ohangwena, Oshikoto and Oshana regions.

The school feeding programme started in 1997 to supplement the often poor diets of primary school pupils whose performance at school is negatively affected by hunger.

Mvula said the Ministry was not aware that the Max Makushe School had been used as a storage facility for the region, and that it believed the food for the region was being stored at Rundu.

"We don't know where the faults came in.

We want our officials to go there and establish exactly what happened," Mvula said.

Mvula said no school in the area had complained that it did not receive its regular rations, so it was not clear whom the rotting food was meant for.

The report of rotting food in the Kavango comes at a time when at least five officials in the Caprivi region face charges of misconduct for allowing more than 18 000 bags of maize meal to rot in a military warehouse instead of delivering it to flood victims.

Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Libertina Amathila said she had instructed the Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development to take action against those found to have been negligent in the handling of the relief programme.

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