STALE bread, dry baked beans and pap is all that 70 orphaned children at Rhema Children's Village have been made to eat for most of last week.
The orphanage in Yeoville, Johannesburg, is affiliated to the popular multimillion-rand celebrity church, Rhema Bible Church in Randburg, which is headed by Pastor Ray McCauley. McCauley's younger brother Alan and his wife Xana manage the village through the church's outreach programme called Hands of Compassion.
Sello Mokoena, spokesman for the Gauteng social development department, confirmed that the centre was an active beneficiary and receives R1.5-million annually from the government.
"This is shocking. We will send our social workers there urgently to assess the situation," said Mokoena.
For almost two months children aged between four and 20 years living at the orphanage have not been receiving proper meals.
Workers who spoke to Sowetan anonymously allege that Xana refuses to sign food requisitions.
The last requisition was signed at the end of July and food was bought on August 4, resulting in the workers scraping around for food donations.
This week they could only manage to get six cabbages, nine carrots and a 10kg sack of maize meal.
They also dig in their pockets to buy medication for children because petty cash has been stopped.
Sowetan visited the orphanage and found it in a dire condition with broken fridges. About 100 stale loaves of bread were still kept in crates.
The workers said they earned R4000 on average and could not afford to help the children.
" We can only feed them pap, bread and beans for now."
Alan McCauley said he was only aware of the ordering "mix-up" that took place this week.
He later called the centre manager, who confirmed the challenges to him.
"I've been told that orders were not being processed and that the food was running out and kids had to eat beans and rice for a couple of nights last week.
"I wasn't aware but we are rectifying that right now. We've ordered food to last us until Saturday while we process the orders," he said.
sifilel@sowetan.co.za
Stale bread, dry beans for Rhema kids
STALE bread, dry baked beans and pap is all that 70 orphaned children at Rhema Children's Village have been made to eat for most of last week.
The orphanage in Yeoville, Johannesburg, is affiliated to the popular multimillion-rand celebrity church, Rhema Bible Church in Randburg, which is headed by Pastor Ray McCauley. McCauley's younger brother Alan and his wife Xana manage the village through the church's outreach programme called Hands of Compassion.
Sello Mokoena, spokesman for the Gauteng social development department, confirmed that the centre was an active beneficiary and receives R1.5-million annually from the government.
"This is shocking. We will send our social workers there urgently to assess the situation," said Mokoena.
For almost two months children aged between four and 20 years living at the orphanage have not been receiving proper meals.
Workers who spoke to Sowetan anonymously allege that Xana refuses to sign food requisitions.
The last requisition was signed at the end of July and food was bought on August 4, resulting in the workers scraping around for food donations.
This week they could only manage to get six cabbages, nine carrots and a 10kg sack of maize meal.
They also dig in their pockets to buy medication for children because petty cash has been stopped.
Sowetan visited the orphanage and found it in a dire condition with broken fridges. About 100 stale loaves of bread were still kept in crates.
The workers said they earned R4000 on average and could not afford to help the children.
" We can only feed them pap, bread and beans for now."
Alan McCauley said he was only aware of the ordering "mix-up" that took place this week.
He later called the centre manager, who confirmed the challenges to him.
"I've been told that orders were not being processed and that the food was running out and kids had to eat beans and rice for a couple of nights last week.
"I wasn't aware but we are rectifying that right now. We've ordered food to last us until Saturday while we process the orders," he said.
sifilel@sowetan.co.za
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