A community swap shop initiative in Joburg where people can trade recyclables for food

Since the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, hunger has been on the increase. It is estimated that before Covid the percentage of malnourished South Africans was 3.4%, while after Covid it was 6.5%. This places additional strain on the health system as people develop diseases because of malnutrition. 

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis report, in 2021 11.8 million people in South Africa were classified as being at IPC Phase 3, which means their level of hunger was at crisis level. 

The People’s Pantry (TPP), located in the Artisans Block of Victoria Yards in Bertrams, Johannesburg, is abuzz with community people, their young children and volunteers. This is a novel food sovereignty initiative that started during the initial hard lockdown in 2020 when people in the Bertrams community were unable to go out and look for work and as a result experienced hunger.

Food sovereignty is “the right of people to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define and control their own food and agriculture systems”.  

TPP was piloted as a soup kitchen and later opened a swap shop, which operates on Fridays. TPP does, however, continue to support eight community kitchens and hosts a soup kitchen twice a week. 

The TPP director, Sandra van Oostenbrugge, says she became aware of how damaging and long-lasting the impact of hunger could be when she was growing up in the Netherlands. 

Van Oostenbrugge says that during the hard lockdown the general problem of hunger manifested acutely among undocumented immigrants, who did not receive any relief measures from the government because they did not have IDs. 

“This is a community that has very little income security and now with Covid we are told, don’t go into the streets, don’t go looking for a piece-job… how are people going to access food? And we weren’t sure that people had access to food parcels that the Department of Social Development was promising. 

“Joseph [Mafa], myself and a team of four are looking at what a just and sustainable food system and culture would look like. Because in an urban setting as soon as you’re out of money, as soon as you don’t have income security, you’re in trouble. You can’t go to Spar and barter, you can’t go to Spar and do a nice little dance or tell them a good joke; it’s all about cash and that’s what is hard to secure for many people.” 

Project coordinator Joseph Mafa and director Sandra van Oostenbrugge. (Photo: Chris Collingridge)

Local community members congregate outside The People's Pantry premises. The Peoples Pantry, located at Victoria Yards, Lorentzville, facilitates a community swap shop where locals can trade in recyclable materials for groceries. (Photo: Chris Collingridge)

Local community member Joyce Nyembe selects her vegetables with the assistance of volunteer Nomfundo Kwini. (Photo: Chris Collingridge)