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Dear Fellow South African,
Last week, the 7th Social Justice Summit, organised by the Centre for Social Justice at Stellenbosch University, reflected on our country’s progress towards achieving food security as a key component of social justice.
Government, policy makers, academia and civil society organisations discussed what we must do to ensure that no South African goes hungry and to chart a new course as countries of the world strive to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Centre has developed the Musa Plan, which aims to use data-driven research and collaborative resource mobilisation to end poverty.
Overcoming poverty and tackling the cost of living for South Africans is one of the strategic priorities of the Government of National Unity (GNU).
Access to nutritious food directly affects the physical health and development of individuals and societies. Around 15 to 16 million people in South Africa have inadequate or severely inadequate access to food.
South Africa is amongst 29 countries where the right to food and water is enshrined in the Constitution, and where citizens have resource to the legal system to ensure that this right is enforced. Our Constitution imposes a duty on the state to take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to progressively realise this right.
Since the advent of democracy in 1994, successive administrations have adopted a multifaceted approach to tackling hunger and food security. This has included legislative and policy reform, nutrition at primary health care level, and programmes that deliver nutrition directly to communities and institutions, such as the school feeding scheme.
To further bolster food security, the provision of social grants, free basic services, free basic and tertiary education, and free primary healthcare have freed up money in households to buy food.
In South Africa, the social wage accounts for approximately 60% of spending by Government before interest payments. This is amongst the highest of upper-middle income countries. A 2021 World Bank report noted that South Africa’s system of programmes were “effective, well-targeted and provide sizeable benefits to the poorest households”, and that our social assistance system “effectively reduces poverty and inequality rates”.
The School Nutrition Programme has been one of the most far-reaching and transformative policies implemented under democracy to address poverty. This programme provides nutrition to more than 9 million learners from poor households on a daily basis. The provision of meals at schools, with nutritious ingredients sourced from school and community food gardens, has had a positive impact on learner attendance, concentration and overall academic performance.
The long-term impact of this programme is evident. Last year, learners from the poorest schools 60% of schools, accounted for 67% of all bachelor passes achieved.
Supporting communities to grow their own food has been an integral feature of Government’s food security strategy. Provincial agricultural departments run programmes across the country to support school, household and community food gardens, providing implements like seedlings, tools and training.
Despite a range of interventions by national and provincial governments, a large portion of South African households are food insecure. In a context of high unemployment and poverty and limited economic growth, many households across the country are finding it difficult to afford nutritious food.
It is, therefore, necessary that together with measures to eradicate extreme food poverty, we have to also look at market factors that are making the cost of nutritious food increasingly out of reach.
According to Statistics South Africa data, annual inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages continues to rise. Last month, headline consumer inflation hit a 10-month high. Meat and vegetables are more expensive, putting household food budgets under pressure.
Since 1991, the zero-rating of basic food items has helped low-income households to cope with rising food costs, and at the same time we are working to ensure that there is both fairness and accountability in food markets.
Although food retailers themselves are under pressure as a result of external factors like rising energy and transportation costs, droughts and global supply chain disruptions, practices like price-fixing that inflate food prices are directly contributing to food insecurity for households.
The Competition Commission has conducted a number of inquiries to enforce accountability in the food market. In February this year, the Commission facilitated a R1 million settlement with an edible oils producer accused of price fixing. The Commission has also conducted inquiries into bread and milling cartels, into the grocery retail and fresh produce markets - and most recently, into alleged anti-competitive behaviour in the poultry industry.
Delegates to the 7th Social Justice Summit agreed that improving food security for individuals and households is a society-wide effort.
With the majority of South Africans relying on supermarket retailers for their food supply, the private sector has an important role to play. The ‘Big Five’ retail companies can and must play a far greater role in making nutritious food more affordable for South African households. We acknowledge the efforts being made in this regard by a number of retailers to keep their prices as low as possible, as well as initiatives to keep daily essentials affordable. The Shoprite Group’s R5 products line is an example of this.
As retailers work to grow their market share among low-income households, they have a responsibility to ensure this includes affordable healthy food choices such as plant and animal proteins, fruits and vegetables.
The Musa Plan is a welcome initiative, which will bolster existing government efforts to end food poverty and food insecurity.
Ultimately, the success of all efforts will rely on deeper collaboration between Government, business, labour and civil society. We need to gain a deeper and honest understanding what is driving food insecurity in our society and the measures that need to be taken to overcome them.
The ultimate measure of the success of our democratic dispensation lies in our ability to ensure that no person goes hungry.
With best regards,
Issued by President Cyril Ramaphosa
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