Azra Hoosen | ah@radioislam.co.za
25 February 2025 | 15:00 CAT
2 min read

A new coalition, Union Against Hunger, is set to launch in South Africa to tackle the growing crisis of food insecurity. Despite the country producing enough food to feed everyone, one in four people face severe hunger—a situation the movement describes as a “crime.”

The coalition, made up of organisations working on food security, hunger, and nutrition, aims to push the government to take decisive action. Mark Heywood, a leading advocate behind the initiative, says hunger is “crippling our country, particularly young people and very young people.”

He suggests there is a need to force political commitment from the government to take measures that can address hunger. “We also need to get the government to act, to control essential food prices. At the moment, with the rise in food prices, it is denying many people—and again, particularly children—access to basic nutrition, to protein, all of which is needed for human development,” he explained.

The Union Against Hunger is not affiliated with any political party but is taking a firm stance on the constitutional right to food. “In this country, the constitution gives everyone a right to sufficient food and water. It gives every child a right to basic nutrition. It is time that we saw action to realise those rights,” he added.

The movement intends to build a powerful, collective voice. Heywood expressed that they want hundreds of organisations to join this coalition, as the goal is to have a voice that cannot be ignored. “Through those organisations, we have distilled a set of ten demands—actions that the government needs to undertake,” he said.

The official launch takes place this week, but March 21^st—Human Rights Day—will mark a major milestone. The coalition will host a Hunger Indaba to finalise key demands. In the lead-up to World Hunger Day in May, the movement plans to hold community hunger hearings across the country.

“We want to bring to the media an understanding of hunger not as a statistic but as the feelings and pain of a child. The pain of a mother or father who cannot feed their children,” Heywood stressed.

He describes it as a crime for food to be available in abundance while so many go without. “We call it a crime of hunger because it is a crime when you have a country where shops are stocked full of food but there are beggars on the streets who cannot afford that basic human right. When our farms produce a surplus of food, but a large part of that food leaves the country and does not go to the people who need it?”

Heywood says the movement is open to everyone who sees hunger as a threat to human rights. “If there are people working in food kitchens, food gardens, hunger issues, or even working with children in education and seeing the problems that hunger presents, then they should make contact with us,” he urged.

Details on how to join will be made public at the official launch. The coalition aims to unite South Africans’ best efforts in solidarity to ensure no one goes hungry.

LISTEN to the full interview with Ml Sulaimaan Ravat and Mark Heywood, South African human rights and social justice activist, here.