--- title: "What’s Eating Us? Podcast travels" description: "In season three of the food justice podcast 'What's Eating Us?' Daily Maverick documented the realities of hunger in the Western and Eastern Cape, gathering personal stories through interviews and glimpses into local lives." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "PHOTO ESSAY" authors: - name: "Felix Dlangamandla" url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/felix-dlangamandla/" - name: "Lillian Roberts" url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/lillian-roberts/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-03-31-whats-eating-us-podcast-travels/" published: "2026-03-31T00:00:00" updated: "2026-04-01T12:30:42" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 552 --- # What’s Eating Us? Podcast travels > In season three of the food justice podcast 'What's Eating Us?' Daily Maverick documented the realities of hunger in the Western and Eastern Cape, gathering personal stories through interviews and glimpses into local lives. By Felix Dlangamandla and Lillian Roberts · Published 31 March 2026, 02:00 SAST · Updated 1 April 2026, 14:30 SAST ## Key points - Daily Maverick’s podcast delves into the harsh realities of hunger faced by farmworkers in the Western and Eastern Cape. - Interviews reveal the struggles of women in De Doorns, where seasonal food insecurity affects 88% due to a lack of work. - The Eastern Cape’s Bulungula highlights the deep reliance on school nutrition programmes, with 89.3% of public school learners dependent on them. - Far beyond statistics, the series offers personal stories that illuminate the ongoing fight against poverty and food scarcity in South Africa. ## Content With the support of the Women on Farms Project, Daily Maverick visited De Doorns and Stellenbosch during the July 2025 winter to interview farmworkers in these Western Cape grape-growing hubs. Given that work is not guaranteed, nor is the length or pay, women farmworkers worry about where their families’ next meal will come from. A [study](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6683081/) by Stephen Devereux and Lauren Taverner-Smith found that 88% of women farmworkers in the Northern Cape experience severe food insecurity during winter due to a lack of work. At least 40.8 million people in South Africa live below the upper-bound poverty line, meaning they cannot afford the bare essentials, with 10.8 million living [below the food poverty line](https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/Report-03-10-06/Report-03-10-062023.pdf). After visiting the Cape Winelands, Daily Maverick went to Bulungula in the Eastern Cape, to get the perspectives of a local subsistence farmer, Nothembile Malaile, and the non-governmental organisation that works with the community, the Equality Collective. The Eastern Cape ranks second nationally for school meal dependency, with [89.3% of public school learners](https://www.gov.za/news/media-statements/eastern-cape-government-stats-sa-report-poverty-and-unemployment-28-may-2025) relying on the National School Nutrition Programme. This figure excludes those in Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, who remain outside the primary feeding scheme. There is a subsidy for ECD centres, which has increased from [R17 per child to R24](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-21-ecd-and-nutrition-only-30-of-registered-care-centres-receive-subsidy/), but unregistered centres do not get it. The Equality Collective provided Daily Maverick with an intimate look at the inner workings of ECD centres and the rhythms of rural life in Bulungula. Their insights highlighted the stark disconnect between national policy and the reality on the ground, revealing the critical gaps that still need to be filled. Here are snapshots from the journey. ![MC-Podcast-Travels](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/90ijCYkdkuqHLPKT3BFq5ipVnPE=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/DeDoorns_6713_313380.jpg) *A mother accompanies her daughter to a school in De Doorns, where, according to a recent survey, approximately 4.2% of the population has no schooling, 6% have finished primary school, and 13.7% have completed secondary school. (Photo: Nathi Nqobile)* ![MC-Pesticides-WC](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/yUcDcUHfPy0tN8qN13YMTTPWS8Q=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/DeDoorns6638_241160.jpg) *De Doorns, where the majority of households subsist on around R2,300 per month, relying on seasonal work at grape farms between October and February. (Photo: Nathi Nqobile)* ![MC-Podcast-Travels](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/mTT6CCHYVhLxykKnDUKd2lnKIUg=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/WFD_2805_870104.jpg) *Nothembile Malaile from the Eastern Cape village of Nqileni — also known as Bulungula — speaks to Zukiswa Pikoli about milling the maize she's grown and shows her the process. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)* ![MC-Podcast-Travels](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/wjSUsMIQ6r6I_RP3rn9zzNjVNTc=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/WFD_2980_506285.jpg) *Nothembile Malailetills the soil on her smallholding, where she has farmed for more than two decades. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)* ![MC-Season3-Whats-Eating-us](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/MtB7eAUAUQJcbdRy53V-SIQpQxk=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/WFD_2942_618307.jpg) *Nothembile Malaile shows Zukiswa Pikoli the crops she is growing on her sloping hillside plot. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)* ![MC-Podcast-Travels](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/iX0IDlLqN1pjtP15ctpOFE7qFhU=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/WFD_3041_361667.jpg) *Nothembile Malaile washes her hands after working in the fields. Her homestead includes chickens, pigs, cats and a donkey. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)* ![MC-Podcast-Travels](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/3Hqs1PtydtKZZmT8-v62PK3FNnI=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/WFD_2706_858481.jpg) *Tshepo Mantje and mam Nothembile Malaile meet on the road in Bulungula. A senior coordinator for the Equality Collective, Mantje splits his time between grassroots living on Malaile’s homestead and high-level national advocacy work in Johannesburg. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)* ![MC-Podcast-Travels](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/KaILneAnPB6wHWidnEmQZdq9lPk=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/WFD_2730_160691.jpg) *Tshepo Mantje walks to his workplace in the village. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)* ![MC-Podcast-Travels](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/F8H3GQorCkeWnY8WSje_zpLV2qM=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/WFD_2343_215139.jpg) *In the coastal Eastern Cape village of Nqileni, Daily Maverick navigated rolling hills to visit two ECD centres. The journey proved treacherous when their vehicle became mired in thick mud, requiring the local community's help to pull them free. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)* ![MC-Podcast-Travels](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/GJ7ydHLH2stsw-ZPXA5CDzT2i0Q=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/WFD_2373_551716.jpg) *An ECD practitioner stands in front of her classroom in Nqileni. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)* ![MC-Season3-Whats-Eating-us](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/w-FGPFBHWau5Kn4f1xC92j4OG24=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/WFD_2512_464927.jpg) *Zukiswa Pikoli sits down with Tshepo Mantje at the Equality Collective. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)* **DM**