Photo: Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A growing number of households experiencing hunger are hoping that proposed regulations will help secure them surplus food before it is discarded as waste.
This would be welcome news for people such as Sisanda Plum, whose daily 10-minute walk to collect a charity meal is a painful reminder that she is unemployed and unable to independently feed her nine-year-old daughter.
On the days that Plum cannot land odd jobs such as washing dishes and running errands for tuckshop owners, she knows her family will go to bed with an empty stomach. For that reason, she scrounges for food in Mfuleni, a relatively new township on the outskirts of Cape Town.
Plum is one of the nearly 14 million people in South Africa — a number that is growing — who experience food insecurity.
But even while such people dice with hunger every day, more than 10 million tonnes of surplus food is wasted each year, according to a report by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
According to Oxfam International, a fifth of Africa’s population — 278 million people — is undernourished, and 55 million children under the age of five are stunted because of severe malnutrition.
In South Africa, between 2020 and February 2023, government feeding sites in the Western Cape increased significantly from 92 to 570, with Premier Alan Winde announcing last month that “the reach of feeding sites has increased five-fold”.
In an effort to fight hunger, the provincial government has allocated an additional R25 million to local kitchens and nutrition and development centres.
One of the country’s largest food redistribution organisations, FoodForward SA, has seen its beneficiary list grow from 500 organisations to 2 750 over the past four years.
The 500 organisations reached 275 000 people, while the 2 750 organisations support 985 000 individuals, said FoodForward SA’s managing director, Andy du Plessis.
One such organisation is the Women for Peace centre in Mfuleni, where Plum collects her daily meal.
Thembekile Bulo is a mentor and dance coach at the centre, a place of safety he has known since the age of five.
Bulo finished matric in 2013 and went on to study civil engineering but, because of the cost of transport and other financial obstacles, his stint in college was short-lived. After struggling to find employment, Bulo came back to the Women for Peace centre “because I was taught everything I know here”.
The centre feeds more than 250 people each day, he says, with the number only dipping slightly for two days each month when people receive their state-funded social grants.
The Women for Peace centre has been a beacon of hope since 1986, when a group of pensioners devoted themselves to feeding the hungry. More than three decades later, the centre has expanded as the needs of the community have increased.
Half an hour before the kitchen opens, a significant number of adults and children gather outside the gates of the centre, anxious to secure a meal for the day.
Referencing the CSIR report, FoodForward SA’s Du Plessis noted: “If we were to intercept just five million of the 10 million tonnes of food that are lost or wasted, we could provide two meals every single day to 30 million people that are unemployed.”
Du Plessis says food surplus is a prime opportunity to address food insecurity.
“By repurposing the surplus, we can recover good quality food and redistribute it to vulnerable people who don’t have access to or cannot afford a nutritious meal. Surplus food is still quality food and is not substandard,” Du Plessis was quoted in a statement FoodForward SA released ahead of last year’s International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste.
South Africa does not have a policy to govern food donations and, according to Du Plessis, the government has not prioritised the recovery of surplus food. He said food that could go to hunger-stricken households is discarded because of the lack of such policies.
“A food donations policy will allow us to recover quality, within-date food from farmers, post-harvest handlers, manufacturers, and retailers, and redistribute this food to improve food security at the household level and end malnutrition.”
But Du Plessis is optimistic that the government is finally “showing signs of being amenable” after reviewing its date labelling in proposed new regulations under the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act of 1972.
“One of the biggest causes of food loss and waste is centred on date labelling issues,” Du Plessis said, adding that the new proposed regulations would, if passed, increase the amount of surplus food eligible for redistribution.
Under the proposals even after the “best before” date on food expires, it may still be donated if it is not “compromised in any way”.
The department has invited public commentary on the proposals until 30 April.
Du Plessis will have the chance to create further awareness about FoodForward SA’s “Repurpose the Surplus” petition launched last year, when he addresses the National Economic Development and Labour Council.
The petition calls for a food donations policy framework that protects food donors and redistribution organisations and also offers tax incentives.
“There are interest groups in government that understand the problem and are trying to resolve the matter [of surplus food],” Du Plessis said.
“There is a perception that surplus food is expired or inedible food. This is not the case. Because of various supply chain factors, surplus food may not [be] good enough to sell, but it is still good enough to eat.”In a country with an unemployment rate of nearly 33%, it is inevitable that millions of people like Plum struggle to survive day by day, Du Plessis said, adding: “And that is not sustainable in any economy. We need jobs and we need people to earn an income. But in the meantime, we need to make sure that people are fed.”