President Cyril Ramaphosa says 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,” President Ramaphosa said.
In his weekly newsletter on Monday, President Ramaphosa said 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,” President Ramaphosa said.
The President said the country’s 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,” the President said.
He added that 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,’” said the President.
In addition, the country’s School Nutrition Programme has been one of the most far-reaching and transformative policies implemented under democracy to address poverty. The programme provides nutrition to more than nine 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.
“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,” the President said.
President Ramaphosa said 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,” he said.
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.
The President said that 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.
READ | Call to join efforts to curtail rising food costs
This as the Competition Commission has conducted a number of inquiries to enforce accountability in the food market.
“Delegates to the 7th Social Justice Summit agreed that improving food security for individuals and households is a society-wide effort.
“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,” said the President.