Abstract
In South Africa and in particular in the Western Cape hunger is a daily challenge. Although the Africa Recovery report is dated as 2004 it is worth citing as it is even more applicable in 2015 as the current drought in South Africa impacts crops and food security . I start by citing this report to demonstrate that the issue raised in the current report by Oxfam on hunger stresses that the situation is worsening not improving due to drought and the weakness of agricultural workers
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Notes
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“…A reduced harvest in drought-stricken South Africa, the region’s breadbasket, is expected to worsen the funding crunch by driving up the price of the staple food, maize, and forcing WFP to rely on costly imports” Africa Recovery, Vol. 18, No 1 (April 2004), Watch page, Southern Africa: Another year of hunger Website: www.africarecovery.org Contact us by email: africa_recovery@un.org.
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Hidden Hunger in South Africa 2015 report www.oxfam.org/grow cites Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project (CCHIP). Hunger (food insecurity) was assessed by means of the Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project (CCHIP).
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http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5nN8ep2mJpU. He has set up a school to teach mathematics and physics for the brightest African students in Cape Town. He hopes to create opportunities for the next Einstein to be from Africa. But between reaching out to the best and brightest and those without hope, there remains an ever widening gap created by the current social, economic and environmental system.
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See Crush and Fayne 2010, Battersby, and Crush 2014, Frayne, B and McCordic, C. and Shilomboleni 2014.
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“http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/release-womens-safety-package-to-stoptheviolence: Immediate practical actions to keep women safe include: “$12 million to trial with states the use of innovative technology to keep women safe (such as GPS trackers for perpetrators), with funding to be matched by states and territories. $5 million for safer technology, including working with telecommunications companies to distribute safe phones to women, and with the eSafety Commissioner to develop a resource package about online safety for women, including for women from CALD communities. $17 million to keep women safe in their homes by expanding successful initiatives like the Safer in the Home programme to install CCTV cameras and other safety equipment, and a grant to the Salvation Army to work with security experts to conduct risk assessments on victim’s homes, help change their locks and scan for bugs. $5 million to expand 1800RESPECT, the national telephone and online counselling and information service, to ensure more women can get support. $2 million increased funding for Men’s Line for tools and resources to support perpetrators not to reoffend. Up to $15 million to enable police in Qld to better respond to domestic violence in remote communities and for measures that reduce reoffending by Indigenous perpetrators. $3.6 million for the Cross Border Domestic Violence Intelligence Desk to share information on victims and perpetrators who move around the cross border region of WA, SA and the NT.”
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An uprising in South Africa by mine workers concerning their pay and conditions which resulted in the death of 44 mineworkers on 15th August 2012.
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http://marikana.mg.co.za/#families_xalabile Mail and Guardian accessed 13/08/2014.
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Urbanization poses a systemic threat to quality of life and has implications for policy . Food deserts are the likely scenario if more emphasis is not placed on balance, greening cities and supporting small farmers. It has been wrongly assumed that growth in the economy will sustain a growing population. During my sabbatical I attended workshops or held conversations with colleagues at Living Hope, Embrace Dignity and Africa Tikkum in Cape Town. The concerns they raised were for food security and how it relates to educational and employment opportunities for all especially young people.
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http://marikana.mg.co.za/#families_xalabile Mail and Guardian accessed 13/08/2014.
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“According to Unicef's “Generation 2030 Africa” report, next year, out of South Africa’s projected population of 53 million people, 18 million of those would be under the age of 18. This is reported in the following article on 24.com/Web/News24/.”
“Over one third of South Africa’s population is expected to be under the age of 18” in 2015, according to a United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) report released on Tuesday. “South Africa was also expected to have 65% of its population living in urban areas next year, the ninth highest level in Africa. According to the report, in 2050 around 41% of all births world-wide would take place in Africa, while in the same year 25 people out of every 100 would be African. This was against the expected figures in 2015, where Africans would make up 16 people out of every 100 around the world. In 2015, 40% of Africa’s population was expected to be living in cities, versus over 50% in 2050” News24/SouthAfrica/Articles.
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http://marikana.mg.co.za/#families_xalabile Mail and Guardian accessed 13/08/2014.
- 14.
The Marikane Anniversary of the massacre of 44 mineworkers on 15th August 2012 is on 15th August 2014.
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This is the second anniversary. http://www.socialistworld.net/print/6442, the committee of workers international CWI argues (see Socialist news http://www.socialistworld.net/print/6442: “On August 16, the anniversary of the police massacre of striking workers at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana, over 5000 mineworkers gathered on ‘the mountain’ where their comrades had been shot down one year earlier. Democratic Socialist Movement (CWI South Africa) reports that the massacre was the most significant political event of the post-Apartheid period. “The hardest thing is that I don’t know why I survived… when nothing has changed”, said one of the survivors who was one in the group that was mowed down in front of TV cameras. He was shot with 14 bullets and lay in a coma for two months…. Family members of the murdered workers spoke of their loss and pain. The Lonmin workers’ strike leaders spoke of the struggle they still face as the company tries to take back the unprecedented wage increases it conceded a month after the massacre.”. … Not only were the NUM and all other ANC-aligned structures absent from the commemoration, but, against a wave of sympathy across the country for the plight of the workers and indignation at the refusal to fund the workers legal representatives, the ANC head office was compelled to condemn the ANC North West for their insensitive remarks. The NUM itself has just lost a long battle it fought by means of fraud, intimidation and court action to retain its recognition…”
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www.socialistworld.net, 23/08/2013 website of the committee for a workers’ international, CWI, South Africa, Marikana: workers remember the massacre a year ago. www.socialistworld.net, 23/08/2013 website of the committee for a workers’ international, CWI.
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Price, C 2012 “http://za.effectivemeasure.net/em_image” alt = ““ style =”position: absolute; left:-5px;”.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution accessed 11 Feb 2015.
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Musgrave, A. 2015 ‘More people living below breadline, says Stats SA’ The Star, p. 4.
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Orderson, C 2015 ‘The birth of the new left’. The Africa Report, Feb, 34–36.
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Mmusinyane, L 2015 ‘Nurturing thinking and responsible citizens’ The Thinker volume 63 pg. 67.
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Morris, M ‘Engaging rivals key to overcoming crises: with weak leadership, a worrying economic outlook and declining public trust, the time is ripe for constructive engagement, liberal analyst Frans Cronje tells Michael Morris’ Feb 14th 2015.
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In South Africa I spent time with staff at the University of South Africa where they stressed that unemployment and appropriate educational pathways that recognise the skills of people who have no formal education ( but plenty of life skills in survival) are urgently in need of recognition as a starting point for entry to further education. They stressed that they did not think about environmental issues per se as a primary concern, but were aware that hunger was an issue for many who are unemployed in the cities. This point was echoed during my time in Cape Town, where for example the UCT food security network has published papers on the need to address the challenges in cities that could become food deserts. The challenge of meeting the needs of the hungry are visible on a daily basis as a person pick through bins and as the struggle for survival are reflected in the levels of crime. Forty-two murders occur a day in South Africa. I was spent time during my sabbatical at an NGO that provides support called: ‘Living Hope’ for those who live in 7 areas along the coast. One of these is Ocean View, where the twenty-five thousand people live in poverty and face a range of challenges that are reflected in the morbidity and mortality rates, meaning the illnesses of poverty such as TB which is endemic and linked with being HIV positive. The vulnerability of children was recognised by this NGO and provides a hot meal and sandwich with fruit to over 7500 children. This service does not go far enough and they are concerned that with rising numbers of people coming to the cities the challenge will become even greater. Remember this is just one part of the Western Cape and the problem is repeated over and over again across South Africa.
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Health District & Sub Health District, Living Hope falls under the Cape Metro Health District and specifically the Southern Sub-Health district.
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Health District & Sub Health District, Living Hope falls under the Cape Metro Health District and specifically the Southern Sub-Health district.
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Collaboration is a core method for development in public, private and NGO sectors (Graham and Barter 1999).
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Municipal service Delivery http://www.etu.org.za/toolbox/docs/localgov/munservice.html [22/08/2014 12:37:07 AM].
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McIntyre-Mills, J. (2017). Political Freedom Versus Democracy. In: Planetary Passport. Contemporary Systems Thinking. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58011-1_4
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