Eight out of 10 learners at Coega Primary on the outskirts of Gqeberha are not guaranteed a meal beyond the school walls.
This situation underscores the desperate state of child malnutrition in the Eastern Cape.
Principal Vuyisile Mbombela said having food at home every day was by no means a certainty for more than 1 000 of the 1 400 pupils.
“Most households are poverty-stricken,” he explained.
Dr Eileen Carter, provincial manager for the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), agreed that food insecurity and child malnutrition were a major concern.
It again raised the topic with the Legislature last month.
In September 2025, the director-general of the national department of health revealed that 70 children in the province had succumbed to hunger-related issues since the start of the year.
“Despite the commission’s previous work . . . severe acute malnutrition (Sam) and associated child deaths remain deeply concerning,” Carter said.
A SAHRC report, tabled in Parliament in November 2023, revealed that 1 087 children presented with Sam between April 2021 and March 2022.
Of them, 116 died.
It is poignantly ironic that absenteeism is rare at the Wells Estate school as it is the only place the children are assured of having a meal.
In an effort to improve this desperate state of affairs, SPAR Eastern Cape acted quickly and launched its new Nutritional Boost initiative at the school.
One of its retailers, SUPERSPAR Bluewater Bay, will provide each child with two meals per day for an initial period of six months.
The learners will receive mielie meal, oats or Maltabella porridge for breakfast and dishes such as pilchards and rice or stew and rice for lunch.
While this intervention addresses an immediate need, sponsorship controller Honey Koba said the vision was to “create sustainable support systems that can be replicated at other schools”.
Assessing the pilot project’s sustainability and therefore potential for future expansion was key, she said.
“You are important to us,” store manager Eddie Langley told the little ones at the unveiling, during which large quantities of bread and milk were donated to Mbombela and his staff.
Koba reiterated that SPAR could not have rolled out the project without the collaboration and goodwill of their key partners – food manufacturer Premier FMCG and dairy-product specialist Lactalis.
Besides meeting basic nutritional needs, Mbombela said youngsters with full tummies were more motivated to learn and could “thrive academically, socially and emotionally”.
The family retailer is also helping to upgrade a food garden on the premises. It will be tended to by an external gardener before being handed over to the school.
“It will enable us to have vegetables every day,” Mbombela said while lauding all the role-players for contributing to the welfare of the learners and making Coega Primary as self-sustaining as possible.
Koba explained that Nutritional Boost formed part of SPAR ECs broader commitment to supporting education, nutrition and community development.
“Our goal is to extend it to more schools once it functions optimally.”