A family’s dream of running a thriving school feeding scheme business came crashing down on them when the education department allegedly withheld a R1.4m payout resulting in the family shutting down their business.

Sisters-in-law Mokoena and Nolundi Mtshabe, a retired teacher and an entrepreneur, started Thuthukani Women Development Trust with three other women in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, in 2003 and in the same year the company was awarded a five-year contract to feed pupils in schools around the King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality. The tender required them to source suppliers and workers that would do the cooking...