On 3 June 2025, SERI launched a new research report entitled “Food for Thought: Reflections on Food (In)Security. Laws, Experiences, Interventions” at Constitution Hill in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. This report aims to understand better how some of SERI’s partners and client groups have been affected by, and responded to, food insecurity and hunger. The launch of the report aimed to bring together different stakeholders, comprising communities directly affected by food insecurity who have played a significant role in providing their lived experiences for the report, experts on food insecurity and hunger, and policymakers, to officially publicise the research report and disseminate its findings.
SERI’s Executive Director, Nomzamo Zondo, set the scene for the launch and discussions that followed and reiterated the need for collaborative and multi-pronged approach to addressing the food insecurity crisis in South Africa. The launch was facilitated by SERI’s Director of Research and Advocacy, Lauren Royston. SERI’s Dr Yvonne Erasmus presented a high-level overview of the report’s findings. Following the presentation, members of SERI's partner organisations who formed part of the study provided their lived experiences and responses to food insecurity and hunger – these included the Inner City Federation (ICF), the South African Informal Traders Forum (SAITF), the African Reclaimers Organisation (ARO), the Commercial, Stevedoring, Agriculture and Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU), Izwi Domestic Workers Alliance (Izwi), and the Slovo Park Community Development Forum (SPCDF).
Mark Heywood, who represented the Union Against Hunger, and Mafoko Malatji from the Department of Agriculture responded to the report and the inputs made by the panellists. They also shared their reflections on the way forward in the effort to alleviate hunger and food insecurity in South Africa.
Media coverage of the launch:
- Naledi Sikhakhane, "Hunger crisis — rights group calls for state action as 23% of South Africans struggle to access food", Daily Maverick (3 June 2025).
- Naledi Sikhakhane, "State’s interdepartmental strategy to tackle hunger hampers South Africans’ right to food — report", Daily Maverick (9 June 2025).