A gloomy Christmas for food vendors barred from Limpopo schools

A bleak, unpleasant and unwelcome festive season looms for many desperate mothers in rural Vhembe villages in Limpopo, who for years earned an income selling snack foods to public school learners. They have not been able to earn a income since the beginning of October due to safety restrictions put in place by the Limpopo department of education (LDE).

In late October, the LDE barred all school vendors from operating their stalls in or outside all public school premises. This was after several reports of children allegedly falling ill after eating snacks and sweets they bought from food vendors. A 13-year-old learner from Khubvi village outside of Thohoyandou died in October, with suspicion falling on snacks he had bought. The incident drove school learners from Khubvi and surrounding villages to chase away all vendors from their schools, while also shutting down all local shops selling snacks and sweets.

Azwinndini Ramuima is a 56-year-old food vendor, who runs her open stall outside the gates of Mulweli Primary School, near Elim. Ramuima said that she started selling snacks, sweets, and fat cakes at the same school in the year 1998. “Being a school vendor has been my life for many years, I have been earning an income this way for over two decades and no one has ever fallen ill from eating any food item which I sell,” said Ramuima. She became a school vendor after several attempts at finding employment failed. She has not been able to earn an income for over six weeks now and she is uncertain of her near future.

According to Statistics South Africa, as of the second quarter of 2024, South Africa’s unemployment rate was 33.5%. The United Nations (UN) indicates that women are slightly more likely to be unemployed than men.

“At the moment, I am totally broken as I have no money, whilst inside the house I have enough stock to sell, which can make me a couple of hundred rands but due to all the dilemmas going on in our country, I am unable to sell. It is so painful not knowing what you’re going to eat the next day,” said Ramuima.

The single mother of four, whose youngest child is 14 years old, used to make a profit of more than five thousand rand every month. But now she is bound to survive on the child support grant she receives for her two youngest children. “I used to look forward to Christmas and all the December holidays, because I knew that I was going to have money to spoil my children, but this year is a different story. I wish we can just move to January next year. How am I going to tell my children that this Christmas, we will not even be able to afford decent meals like we usually do,” said Ramuima.

She told Elitsha that she used to save the money she made through her business by participating in a school stokvel, with her fellow vendors and they used to split the money at the end of December. But this year, they had to split the money early, following the decision to bar them from schools. “We were forced to split the stokvel money in October and I had to quickly use the money to buy two of my children school uniforms as I do not know if we will be allowed to operate again early next year, when schools re-open,” she said.

During the first week of November, the LDE indicated that school vendors will be allowed to run their businesses within or outside school premises from the 11th of November. But many vendors like Ramuima could not do so as they do not meet requirements. According to the departmental spokesperson, Mosebjane Kgaffe, these requirements include that vendors have to stock and sell food items consistent with nutritional guidelines and they must also have a formal service level agreement with the school governing body.

Kgaffe also indicated that school vendors must have valid certificates of acceptability from the health department, affirming compliance with hygiene standards. Furthermore, they have to keep verifiable documentation demonstrating the origins of their products. “This must include receipts and invoices detailing suppliers, purchase dates and product descriptions. There is also a ban on the sale of snacks from brands identified as containing foreign objects or lacking expiry dates,” said Kgaffe.

For Ramuima, all these measures put in place demand more than she can afford. “I think it will be difficult for me to run this business again, as now I cannot sell the stock which I already have as I no longer have the receipts and at the same time, I do not have money to purchase new stock. I am stuck between a rock and a hard place,” explained Ramuima.

Ramuima is not alone. Gladys Marubini (48) has been working as a vendor at Azwifarwi Secondary School, outside of Thohoyandou since 2007. She also has not been able to earn an income for more than six weeks now. “To be honest, I never expected anything like this as things have been running smoothly on my side as I was able to earn a living through selling food items to school children. But now life is very hard on my side as I am not able to earn any income since they stopped us from selling,” said Marubini.

Marubini, who is a single mother of two teenagers 18 and 15, said that she believes that they should have at least been given two months’ notice so that they could prepare themselves for a gloomy time. “We were never given a warning or notice but just out of the blue we were told to stop selling. Just imagine all the stocks we have at home: what are we going to do with all these food items we have at home? We cannot sell them no more and we do not have money to buy new stock as the requirements by the department of education states,” she said.

Marubini, who left school in grade 10 decades ago, said that she wishes they could be allowed to sell the stock they already have. “I have never heard of any learner falling ill from the food items me and my colleagues sell, and we only buy quality and safe products. They should just send someone to come and inspect our stocks to find if we have any unsafe snacks,” she protested.

Attempts to get comment from the association of school governing bodies in Limpopo failed.