FOOD parcels handed out by ANC Youth League president Julius Malema last week were not sponsored by the South African Social Security Agency, the Social Development Ministry said yesterday.

FOOD parcels handed out by ANC Youth League president Julius Malema last week were not sponsored by the South African Social Security Agency, the Social Development Ministry said yesterday.

Spokesperson Zanele Mngadi sought to "clarify" that the parcels were not sponsored by the government, but were given to Social Development Minister Edna Molewa by private companies.

This followed an outcry by opposition parties after Malema handed out the parcels at an event organised by the government in Philippi in Western Cape.

The DA has asked the public protector to probe the incident, which its social development spokesperson Patricia Kopane described as a "clear conflation of party and state".

Mngadi said Molewa was meant to hand out the parcels, but was unable to attend the event.

Sassa spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi, a youth league member, said yesterday the items were not food parcels but hampers and denied Malema handed them out at all.

Letsatsi told the Cape Times last week that the ANCYL helped identify needy people across the country. - Sapa