- The Legal Resources Centre submission says hunger in South Africa results from structural exclusion from food producing resources.
- Small-scale fisheries regulations impose “enormous red tape on fishing communities”, limiting their ability to exercise recognised fishing rights.
- The submission says existing legal frameworks “actively discourage the redirection of safe, edible surplus food to people who need it”.
The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) has told the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) that hunger in South Africa is, above all, the result of structural exclusion from food-producing resources rather than a lack of food itself.
The LRC made its submission as part of the SAHRC’s national inquiry into South Africa’s food systems and the realisation of the constitutional right to food.
Drawing on its work with rural communities, small-scale farmers, and fishing communities, the LRC emphasises that food security is shaped not only by the availability of food but also by political and economic realities, inequality, climate change, and access to productive resources. “Our work thus aims to put power in the hands of local communities to participate in their own food production and democratise food systems,” the submission reads.
Small-scale fisheries and the right to food
A central theme of the submission concerns the role of small-scale fishing communities in ensuring food security along South Africa’s coastline. According to the LRC, small-scale fisheries sustain thousands of fishers and their families, supplying fish that is largely consumed locally within coastal communities.
The vital link between fishing resources and food security was highlighted during litigation brought by traditional fishers in the Equality Court. In that matter, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food stated in an expert affidavit, “The food security of poor coastal communities is usually closely linked to fishing, and therefore the right to adequate food of these communities is closely linked to their access to and control over fishing resources.”
Despite the adoption of the Small Scale Fisheries Policy in 2012, the LRC’s submission notes that implementation has been slow and restrictive for many communities. “The regulations impose enormous red tape on fishing communities, including forcing them to form cooperatives and operate as a business,” the submission states.
The importance of fishing resources for food security was also recognised in litigation concerning seismic exploration along the West Coast. In that judgment, Judge Daniel Thulare held: “Snoek was a source of food for the impoverished communities of the West Coast and also provided an income to sustain the small-scale communities.”
Judge Thulare further stated that the survey’s impact on food security for small-scale fishers would be “a regressive measure in that it would diminish the existing enjoyment of the right to food as envisaged in section 27(1)(c) of the Constitution.”
Corporate influence over food systems
The LRC also raises concerns about what it describes as growing corporate influence over marine governance. According to the submission, international policy trends are increasingly promoting what is called the blue economy.
These initiatives, says the LRC, prioritise export-driven industries over local food systems and community livelihoods. Such developments, the submission continues, have resulted in “the displacement of fishing communities, loss of access to traditional fishing grounds, and escalating conflicts over marine resources.”
According to the LRC, these trends threaten local food systems because small-scale fisheries supply food directly to nearby communities through local supply chains.
Land reform and municipal commonage
The submission also highlights the importance of land reform in advancing the constitutional right to food. The LRC argues that municipal commonage land, owned by municipalities and historically set aside for the benefit of poorer residents, could provide an immediate opportunity to expand access to land for small-scale producers.
Because this land is already publicly owned and close to towns and markets, it represents a practical opportunity to support small-scale food production, the submission argues. Municipalities, the LRC suggests, should integrate commonage management into their development plans and prioritise access for vulnerable communities looking to produce food for household consumption and local markets.
Legal barriers to food donation
The LRC’s submission also addresses food waste and food redistribution, arguing that South Africa’s legal framework governing food donation discourages the recovery of edible surplus food.
Legislation regulating consumer protection, taxation, and food safety creates uncertainty and administrative burdens for businesses and food recovery organisations, the LRC says. “Existing legislative and institutional arrangements actively discourage the redirection of safe, edible surplus food to people who need it.”
The LRC has called on the South African Human Rights Commission to consider targeted legislative reforms to remove these barriers and better align existing laws with the state’s constitutional obligation to progressively realise the right to food.
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