Food insecurity identified as a driver of poverty, crime in SA

CAPE TOWN - Civil society organisations, women seasonal farm workers, and academics in the Western Cape have identified food insecurity as one of the drivers of poverty and crime in the country
 
The Union Against Hunger is holding a mini-indaba in Cape Town for World Food Day on Wednesday to support communities in asserting their right to food.

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The Union Against Hunger said, despite constitutional rights to food and nutrition, 15 million people in South Africa go hungry.

Speakers at the event want both government and industry leaders in the agriculture sector to be held accountable for hunger and food insecurity in the country.
 
Women on Farms activist Colette Solomons said it’s unjustifiable that women farm workers who’ve been working the land for decades remain landless and hungry.
 
“Food insecurity, for us, is the food system that puts profits above people, making it unaffordable for the women who produce the food.”
 
Yandiswa Mazwana from the Masiphumelele Creative Hub in Fish Hoek explained the impact of food poverty in her community.
 
“Food insecurity, for us, it’s the areas of our communities that we call wetlands where people go and just give up and start all over each and every year of their lives.”
 
The Union Against Hunger said the mini-indaba is part of a series of community-led events taking place nationwide.