Image Source: Prensa Latina
Local – Senior Programme Officer at the African Climate Foundation, Malik Dasoo, argues that South Africa’s hunger crisis is not the result of food shortages but of economic inequality and political choices that have failed to prioritise fair access to nutrition.
Despite the nation producing and importing enough food to feed every citizen, millions of South Africans still go hungry every day, with children bearing the brunt of widespread malnutrition.
Dasoo said income inequality lies at the heart of the problem. The widening gap between executives and ordinary workers has left many unable to afford nutritious food.
“People need to be earning more than they are right now… when you have CEOs taking home millions… and paying people less than they should be, that’s contributing to people not earning enough to access food affordably,” he said.
Access and Affordability
South Africa’s hunger, Dasoo explained, is not about a lack of food but about who can afford it. While shelves remain stocked, millions of households struggle to buy what they need.
He said the problem lies in how food is priced and distributed, leaving poorer families with limited, unhealthy options.
“The contradiction emanates primarily from how food is accessed,” he said. “Food is too expensive… people are not earning enough, or food prices are too high to allow them sufficient access to nutritional demands.”
He added that many families rely on cheap, processed foods that fill them up but lack nutrition, leading to “childhood stunting and the rising rates of diabetes and obesity in the country despite people going hungry at the same time.”
Rethinking Solutions to Food Insecurity
While community food gardens are often praised as a way to fight hunger, Dasoo said they cannot meet the scale of South Africa’s needs.
He believes genuine change requires systemic reform that strengthens the entire food system.
“It is very difficult to use small food gardens in urban areas to feed literally millions of people,” he said.
“What we need is a well-organised food system made up of smallholder and larger agricultural actors who combine to feed the growing demand of our country.”
Corporate Concentration and Its Consequences
One of the driving forces behind the country’s food insecurity, Dasoo noted, is the heavy concentration of power in the retail sector. A small number of supermarket chains dominate food distribution, shaping both prices and consumer access.
He said this level of control makes South Africa highly vulnerable to market shocks and price hikes.
“Countries that have a very corporate-controlled… and very small pool of actors who control how people access food are much more vulnerable to economic and environmental shocks,” he said.
He pointed to the East African droughts of 2022 as a warning, saying “food prices spiked by about 30% in the course of a few weeks because there were only a handful of suppliers and retailers who controlled that food.”
