Covid-19

Child Hunger

‘My family fights a lot over bread’

‘My family fights a lot over bread’
Of paramount concern was the fact the National Nutrition Programme did not run during the lockdown, which left even more children hungry. (Photo: EPA / Nic Bothma)

Mbali (not real name), 17, lives in Kingsway, a township in Gauteng, and is a Grade 11 learner at Lesiba Secondary School situated in Daveyton. 

SECTION27 and the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) have approached the court on behalf of a number of learners, parents, teachers and school governing bodies in an attempt to get the government to feed millions of children who have gone hungry since the schools closed during the Covid-19 lockdown.

It was hoped that, once schools started re-opening, the school feeding schemes, which are planned and budgeted for, would resume in full. However, the Minister and the Department of Basic Education have opted, for now, to only feed Grade 7 and 12 children.

SECTION27 and EELC have filed a number of affidavits on behalf of their clients – Equal Education and the School Governing Bodies of two schools.

Maverick Citizen has been given access to affidavits from the SECTION27 and EELC clients and they make for harrowing reading. They tell a story of extreme hunger and poverty, but also of a government that has to be dragged to court to compel them to feed children who desperately need one meal a day, who have no source of food other than the school feeding scheme.

Learners’ affidavits, particularly, make for stomach-churning reading, but it is important to read their stories to try to understand the lived realities of people in small, off-the-map, far-flung villages in South Africa. People, even worse children, going hungry in South Africa is unforgivable. It is also important to pay tribute to the bravery of teachers, parents, school governing bodies and learners who are speaking out despite being fearful of intimidation and losing their jobs.

We publish extracts from 15 affidavits and even though these documents will become public in the courts, SECTION27 and EELC requested that we do not identify their clients by name for fear of intimidation.

Affidavit 12

Mbali, 17, lives in Kingsway, a township in Gauteng, and is a Grade 11 learner at Lesiba Secondary School situated in Daveyton.

‘It is also affecting my siblings, especially my younger brother who will cry when he does not have food to eat.’

“I live with my parents and my siblings of which two of them are learners attending Kingsway Intermediate School and Kingsway Secondary School, respectively. Before school closures commenced under the national lockdown, my school was offering daily meals and I received one meal (lunch) per day.

“Since my school closed, I have not received any meals through the NSNP. I have not been receiving food parcels from the government. However, my family has once received a food parcel from a non-governmental organisation. The food lasted for about a week.

“My two siblings and I are the recipients of the Child Support Grant. However, my family and I do not have enough food at home. Not having enough food at home makes it more difficult for me to study. It is also affecting my siblings, especially my younger brother who will cry when he does not have food to eat. My family fights a lot over bread and necessities. My siblings will cry and fight with each other. This impacts me emotionally.

“It is very hard to study at home with all the fighting and having to take care of my siblings. It is difficult to study on my own. Whenever I have data I can access online resources but it doesn’t really help. I therefore want my school to provide me with food through the school feeding scheme.” DM/MC

Gallery

"Information pertaining to Covid-19, vaccines, how to control the spread of the virus and potential treatments is ever-changing. Under the South African Disaster Management Act Regulation 11(5)(c) it is prohibited to publish information through any medium with the intention to deceive people on government measures to address COVID-19. We are therefore disabling the comment section on this article in order to protect both the commenting member and ourselves from potential liability. Should you have additional information that you think we should know, please email [email protected]"

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

X

This article is free to read.

Sign up for free or sign in to continue reading.

Unlike our competitors, we don’t force you to pay to read the news but we do need your email address to make your experience better.


Nearly there! Create a password to finish signing up with us:

Please enter your password or get a sign in link if you’ve forgotten

Open Sesame! Thanks for signing up.

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.