DSDnewsPREVENTING HUNGER AND MALNUTRITION IS EVERYONE’S BUSINESS

By Precious Mupenzi

The Department of Social Development’s social assistance programme is South Africa’s most important anti-hunger programme, the Minister of Social Development, Sisisi Tolashe, told the National Assembly.
The programme, recognised globally as the most effective pro-growth poverty reduction strategy, helps more than 28 million vulnerable individuals and households to afford a nutritionally adequate diet every month.
Drivers of acute food insecurity are complex, interlinked and mutually reinforcing: the rise in teenage pregnancy, combined with the rising cost of living crisis, the growing climate crisis and frequent extreme weather.

South Africa must transform its food systems to ensure that people are not just fed, but are nourished, says Social Development Minister Sisisi Tolashe.

The minister was addressing the National Assembly on 28 November 2025 in a crucial debate on finding solutions to the malnutrition experienced in parts of the country, particularly among young children and those in rural areas.

The topic raised was: “Solution to address the severe malnutrition crisis confronting past failures to coordinate and implement critical intervention to protect children from hunger.”

“Studies have shown that the first five years of a child’s life are the most critical of human development. According to UNICEF (2021), a child’s brain forms more than one million neural connections every second during this period, laying the groundwork for a child’s academic, emotional, and physical well-being throughout life,” Minister Tolashe told the National Assembly.

It is during this period that good nutrition is a key pillar and strong predictor of future success and well-being.

“It is for this reason that as soon as it came into office, the African National Congress-led government expanded the social assistance programme to tackle widespread poverty and hunger, which disproportionately affected black communities,” the minister said, adding that this was a historical fact that cannot be erased.

“If we do not tell these truths about our past, truth will have no real meaning in this country.”

Minister Tolashe added: “We will continue to tell these painful truths, not because we want to guilt-trip anyone, but to contextualise the past, to understand the present and to shape the future we want. Section 27(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa states that, ‘everyone has the right to have access to sufficient food and water’. This obligation is extended in section 27(2), according to which ‘the state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of each of these rights’.”

A crucial anti-hunger programme

The social assistance programme is South Africa’s most important anti-hunger programme, the minister said.

The programme helps more than 28 million vulnerable individuals and households to afford a nutritionally adequate diet every month.

“No amount of political grandstanding can change one undeniable fact that this is the most extensive and responsive anti-poverty programme that provides the much-needed income support during and after economic downturns.”

Tolashe added that the programme has transformed the lives of millions of South Africans, protecting many vulnerable individuals and households from hardship and hunger.

The government introduced the Child Support Grant in 1998 to end the cycle of malnutrition and address the nutritional needs of children in South Africa. This grant was first targeted at children from 0-7 years but has gradually expanded to cover all eligible children under the age of 18 years.

Currently, the Child Support Grant reaches over 13 million children in South Africa and has been found to increase food consumption and dietary diversity in vulnerable households.

“In fact, our social assistance programme is recognised globally as the most effective pro-growth poverty reduction strategy. Additionally, research conducted by UNICEF and the World Bank shows that the Child Support Grant has multiplier effects as it significantly improves health, education, and well-being, as well as being a shield for vulnerable households from adverse economic effects,” Minister Tolashe said.

In the past three decades, South Africa has made real progress in tackling child malnutrition.

“We are not oblivious to the fact that progress is unfinished. The recent findings by the South African Human Rights Commission are a case in point.

“We have therefore wasted no time or spared any effort to address this issue, because we strongly believe that our nation’s greatness should not be measured by the number of the wealth of its elites and their fancy toys, but rather by the dignity afforded to the most vulnerable amongst us, at the most crucial stages of their lives.”

Challenges to be tackled

Delivering the State of the Nation Address in February 2025, President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted that some of the country’s gains in reducing child poverty and mortality since 1994 are slowing down.

“There is no task more urgent than tackling malnutrition, which is rearing its ugly head in some parts of our country, especially predominantly rural areas.”

This was amplified at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated by the rising cost of living and climate-related disasters.

This issue is not restricted to South Africa, but is a shared global phenomenon, acknowledged by the World Food Programme. Other countries such as Syria, Nicaragua, Nigeria and Nepal are also feeling the pinch.

This administration is waging an unrelenting war against malnutrition and hunger on all fronts – through measures such as mandatory fortification of staple foods like rice, maize meal, household food gardens, social assistance programme, the minister said.

“At the centre of our work to address poverty and hunger is the NDP (Vision 2030) and the Medium-Term Development Plan, both of which provide a clear path to build on the progress we have made in the past 30 years in addressing malnutrition.”

The minister explained that the drivers of acute food insecurity are complex, interlinked and mutually reinforcing: the alarming rise in teenage pregnancy, combined with the rising cost of living crisis, the growing climate crisis and frequent extreme weather events are currently common causes of rising levels of hunger and malnutrition. “These factors erode the resilience of households and communities to respond, threatening livelihoods and leaving them more vulnerable to additional shocks.”

A holistic approach

One of the most important interventions is the 1 000 Days Campaign, which stems from recognition that malnourished mothers give birth to malnourished babies, passing hunger from one generation to the next.

“We have also adopted an integrated approach to nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions to prevent malnutrition,” said Tolashe. Cooked nutritious meals are provided to vulnerable households through community nutrition and development centres across South Africa.

“In addition, we are rolling out nutrition assessment and counselling, through which we capacitate households to grow nutrition-rich crops and adopt climate-resilient subsistence farming agricultural practices,” the minister added.

In 2022, the Department of Social Development, through Cabinet, introduced the Child Support Grant top-up that is currently reaching more than 21 000 vulnerable children to the tune of over R18-million. The highest number of children currently benefiting from the top-up is in the Eastern Cape.

In addition, school uniforms are provided to learners from vulnerable families through the Social Relief of Distress programme, removing barriers that prevent learners from remaining in school and finishing their basic education.

“As uTata Madiba said: ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

Minister Tolashe noted that other members in the house will elaborate on the impact of school-based nutrition and educational interventions, including the School Nutrition Programme and clinical and community-based nutritional interventions to address severe acute malnutrition.

“Through community-based interventions such as the Rishia programme, we are focusing on early intervention, focusing on children most at risk of malnutrition, ensuring that no child is left behind from progress to end poverty and malnutrition.”

The Department of Social Development is also intensifying the rollout of the Integrated Community Registration Outreach Programme (ICROP), focusing on underprivileged and rural communities across the country.

The department has set aside R29-million to conduct 516 ICROPs in 2025.

It has also partnered with the Department of Home Affairs to promote early birth registration. In this financial year alone, five of the nine provinces have been visited, bringing services closer to the people.

Working together, malnutrition can be conquered

“If there is a single cause that must unite all of us across party lines, it is to end malnutrition in all its forms,” the minister urged the assembly.

“Preventing hunger and malnutrition is everyone’s business.

“We must transform South Africa’s food systems to ensure that the purpose is not just to feed people, but to nourish everyone. In this regard, we must all be active in defining what foods should be produced and how, and most importantly, reduce costs and minimise waste.

“Equally, we must educate our constituencies to make more informed dietary choices.”

Preventing and treating malnutrition will remain a core part of the Department of Social Development’s portfolio mandate. “We take this matter seriously. No one can diminish in any way or ignore the important work we have and continue to do in tackling hunger and malnutrition up to this point.”