Do the maths, stupid — cost of hunger is far greater than the cost of solving it

15 Aug 2023

South Africa must be one of the few countries in the world that both recognises the human right to sufficient food and allows millions of its children to feel hunger — and some to starve — within smelling distance of shops stocked well with food.

The Constitution is South Africa’s supreme law. The Constitution is crystal clear.

It says “everyone [in South Africa] has the right to have access to sufficient food and water” and that the state must take “reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources” to realise this right.

It says “every child” has a right to “basic nutrition”. It does not qualify children’s rights. The state should be doing everything in its power to protect this right, meaning simply, no child in our country should be malnourished or hungry.

And yet, access to sufficient food is deteriorating.

Figures vary, but according to an April 2023 report by Statistics South Africa on food inadequacy and hunger, based on data drawn from the General Household Survey “In 2021, about 2.1 million (11,6%) of South African households reported experiencing hunger” this included, “More than half a million (683,221) households with children aged five years or younger.” (The full report is available here.)

2021 was in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic and State of Disaster. But although the pandemic is officially over, for millions of people life has not returned to ‘normal’. Continuing mass unemployment and rising food prices have meant that hunger has grown.

Hunger seems invisible, unless it’s your guts it’s gnawing at. People don’t light up or turn a different colour when they are hungry. If they did we would see them all around us.

Yet, its consequences are horrific:

Read more in the Daily Maverick: Desperate Eastern Cape mom kills starving children and hangs herself

They are also long-lasting: Personal. Educational. Economic. Developmental. Social. Moral.

According to research compiled and presented by the DG Murray Trust (DGMT) and Grow Great campaign (read about it here) hunger impacts negatively on per capita GDP growth; learning outcomes; and a country’s human capital ranking.

Quoting scientific papers they say:

“27% of children living in SA under five are stunted.

“A 1% loss in adult height as a result of childhood stunting is associated with a 1.4% loss in productivity.

“Children who are stunted have significantly lower verbal and total intelligence scores compared to those who were never stunted.”

This means that the money we invest in ending hunger is many times repaid in economic, developmental, educational and health savings. And yet, many months into this crisis, there is still no sense of urgency. From anyone — other than Gift of the Givers.

Read more in the Daily Maverick: Eastern Cape case of Buso family tragedy was ‘murder and death by hunger’

For example, last week the Eastern Cape office of the Human Rights Commission told Adv Paul Hoffman that, like him, they were “equally concerned about the reports” of hunger and had “conducted an investigation on this matter during the latter part of 2022”.

However, says the SAHRC, “the Inquiry report is still being finalised … We do apologise for the time it has taken, however we assure you that it remains a priority”.

That apology is cold comfort for Bongeka Buso, her three dead children and many others experiencing starvation in that Province. In the words of English metaphysical poet Andrew Marvell:

“The grave’s a fine and private place,

but none I think do there embrace (apologies).”

Read what happens to the body of a malnourished child: How a child’s body responds to hunger — and the lifelong consequences of malnutrition

And the Eastern Cape is not even the most hunger affected province. According to the General Household Survey, more families have inadequate or severely inadequate access to food in the Free State, the Northern Cape (our hungriest Province) and Mpumalanga.

According to figures quietly released in answer to a Parliamentary question on 17 July 2023 by Health Minister Joe Phaahla, severe acute malnutrition has increased in five provinces since 2020/21. In the Eastern Cape, it has increased by 285% over a five-year period. His shocking figures, given to Parliament (meaning no MP can later claim ignorance of this horror), are below:

A plan, but will there be any action?

We feel this hunger because our journalists see and report on it.

Four and a half hungry months ago, in an editorial on 4 April, Maverick Citizen drew attention to the hunger crisis. We reported optimistically on “an advocacy campaign being run by several NGOs to persuade the big food retail chains in South Africa (Shoprite, Checkers, Pick n Pay, Boxer and others) to reduce their prices on 10 key foods by one-fifth.”

Read more in Daily Maverick: A serious proposal to overcome child hunger… but will we choose it?

Since then, Maverick Citizen has been told that, albeit slow, there has been significant progress: the proposal is for a “double discounted basket of 10 highly nutritious foods” that would go a long way to overcoming the 30% gap between the Child Support Grant and the basic income needed to feed a child, potentially benefiting 11.5 million children.

solving hunger, Grow-great 10 best buys (Source: Grow Great)

To this end, the Competition Commission has reportedly permitted food retailers and manufacturers to meet, in the presence of a Competition lawyer, to discuss the proposal, and they have recently done so under the auspices of the Consumer Goods Council of SA (CGSA).

In addition, the President’s Social Affairs Advisor has indicated its support for the proposal and the Treasury is considering subsidizing R2-3-billion, an amount equivalent to the amount that would be discounted by food retailers. It is said to be investigating a mechanism for paying the subsidy.

After the meeting on 4 August 2023 feedback is now awaited from the CGCSA.

It couldn't come soon enough.

We appeal to all parties to act urgently and to put the interests of children at the forefront. Come up with a plan that shows we can still act to love our neighbours.

If these negotiations fail the government should act swiftly to fulfill its constitutional duties to protect human rights. It could follow the advice of Mr Roger Etkind, a reader who suggested in response to one of our last editorials that “an even better option would be for government to mandate the proposed reduction in price of basic foods through price controls and then to allow the retailers to make up their shortfall by inflating the price of more luxury items.

“That way there would be no need to ask for anything from Treasury which, under its current leadership, is very unlikely to be forthcoming. And it would have a desirable redistributive effect.”

Or Mr Sam van Coller who suggested:

“A possible alternative would be for the big retailers to contribute 0.1% of their turnover to a National Food Aid Fund run by Gift of the Givers with the objective of eliminating malnutrition within five years.”

Truth be told, because food is a human right and because there is enough food for all in South Africa the epidemic of hunger is entirely unnecessary. It exists because of negligence and a lack of care. We can do something about it today, prevent suffering and save lives. DM

To understand more about food as a human right visit the website of the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food. To find out more about the Grow Great campaign visit here. For a factsheet on the right to food from the Human Rights Commission visit here.

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A plan, but will there be any action?