---
title: "Hungry For Change, a series on SA’s hunger crisis"
description: "Exploring the impossible trade-offs families make to put food on the table, and the resilience keeping them afloat in backyard gardens to food stokvels. In this series, community journalists enter vulnerable homes to reveal how families fight hunger."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "STARVED OF OPTIONS"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-13-hungry-for-change-a-series-on-sa-s-hunger-crisis/"
published: "2026-08-13T11:26:01"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 342
---

# Hungry For Change, a series on SA’s hunger crisis

> Exploring the impossible trade-offs families make to put food on the table, and the resilience keeping them afloat in backyard gardens to food stokvels. In this series, community journalists enter vulnerable homes to reveal how families fight hunger.

By Health-e News · Published 13 August 2026, 13:26 SAST

## Key points
- Advocacy groups and the HSRC tell the SAHRC’s food-systems inquiry South Africa is in the grip of a hunger crisis – more than 1,000 child deaths from preventable acute malnutrition last year and an estimated 14 million people go hungry.
- The SAHRC inquiry’s first phase (March) heard civil society and government; the July phase turned the spotlight on the private sector – from farmers to retailers — for its role in the food chain.
- Daily Maverick presents an eight-part series, Hungry For Change: community journalists enter vulnerable homes to show the impossible trade-offs families make, and local coping strategies from backyard gardens to food stokvels.
- Included: a photo essay, “What’s on your plate?”, documenting real meals, costs and nutrition — a drive to show hunger beyond the numbers (first published by Health-e News).

## Content

![Image](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/uuPUotVU0XHrrP1W7TOPRIvfIeI=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/2996/1HungerSeriesLogo_753382.jpg)

South Africa (SA) is facing a hunger crisis.

This is according to recent submissions by[advocacy groups](https://unionagainsthunger.org/mapped-the-state-of-hunger-in-south-africa/) to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC)’s[Inquiry](https://www.sahrc.org.za/index.php/sahrc-media/news-2/item/4504-media-advisory-sahrc-to-convene-the-second-leg-of-the-national-investigative-hearing-into-the-food-systems-of-south-africa) into the country’s food system.

The first phase of the inquiry was held in March this year, and heard evidence from civil society organisations and government institutions.

The SAHRC’s[second phase](https://www.sahrc.org.za/index.php/sahrc-media/news-2/item/4504-media-advisory-sahrc-to-convene-the-second-leg-of-the-national-investigative-hearing-into-the-food-systems-of-south-africa) in July turned the focus to the private sector across the food chain, including farmers, food manufacturers and retailers.

### **More than 1,000 children**

Submissions by the[Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa](https://hsrc.ac.za/) (HSRC) included[findings](https://hsrc.ac.za/news/food-security/the-conversation-south-africas-malnutrition-crisis-why-a-cheaper-basket-of-healthy-food-is-the-answer/) that more than a thousand children died last year because of preventable acute malnutrition, and an estimated[14 million people in the country go hungry](https://www.nationalplanningcommission.org.za/assets/Documents/NPC_ECD%20Advisory_v1.pdf).

[Read more

Mapped — the state of hunger in South Africa

May 25, 2026 ![Image](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/ZjzH_mMA7Hrf3T-3BajReyh68I0=/450x0/smart/file/attachments/orphans/ED_389754_901226.jpg)](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-05-25-mapped-the-state-of-hunger-in-south-africa/)

### **Shared stories behind the statistics**

Over the coming weeks, we will share the stories of people behind these statistics in an eight-part series, Hungry For Change, looking at the difficult choices families make when there is not enough money for food.

Community journalists will take readers into the homes of vulnerable communities across SA, and report on the sacrifices people make to keep food on the table.

Their stories will look at how hunger affects young children and older people, and how poor access to basic services, unemployment and rising food costs shape what families have available to eat.

Some articles will also focus on communities finding their own ways to cope, from growing their own food to pooling money through food stokvels.

### **What’s on your plate?**

Throughout the series, a photo essay called “What’s on your plate?” will document real meals eaten by households featured in the stories, explore what those meals cost, how many people they feed and what they provide nutritionally.

The aim is simple: to show readers what hunger looks like beyond the statistics, and the desperate measures people go to in order to feed their families.

*First published by*[*Health-e News*](https://health-e.org.za/2026/07/27/hungry-for-change-8-part-series/)*as part of an eight-part series about food insecurity in South Africa**.*