A Bushbuckridge pre-school is facing serious allegations of serving expired food to children, hospitalisations and staff mistreatment — even after six former employees won a R66 400 award at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).

Vereta Pre-School Creche was ordered on 18 August 2025 to pay outstanding stipends to Nomsa Lerato Mabunda and five colleagues after failing to attend a CCMA hearing in Mbombela. The workers said they were underpaid between June 2024 and July 2025. Despite the ruling, the former employees claim they have still not received their money.

Beyond the wage dispute, former staff members allege that children were routinely served expired or rotten food through the feeding scheme and that complaints were ignored. It is alleged that one child spent nearly five days in hospital after consuming food from the crèche, with doctors repeatedly asking what the child had eaten. Other children reportedly became ill, and some parents are said to have withdrawn their children from the centre.

Additional allegations include claims of verbal abuse, intimidation of staff and an incident in which the principal allegedly threw spoons at a teacher. There are also unproven claims of bribery involving social workers and community structures.

The CCMA ruling dealt only with unpaid stipends and did not investigate the food safety or misconduct allegations.

Vereta Pre-School Creche had not responded to the allegations at the time of publication.