The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has called for urgent government intervention in response to the severe acute malnutrition crisis affecting children in the Eastern Cape. Dr. Eileene Carter, the head of the SAHRC in the Eastern Cape says the situation is dire and believes that government social support must be increased, including increasing grants and funding for school nutrition programmes.
An inquiry conducted by the SAHRC in 2022 highlighted the prevalence of severe acute malnutrition in the Eastern Cape. This is primarily caused by insufficient access to food for children.
Severe acute malnutrition is a serious medical condition characterised by an extreme deficiency of nutrients, particularly macronutrients like proteins, calories, and micronutrients. This occurs when children do not receive an adequate amount of nutrients for an extended period.
Jonas Sibanyoni, Commissioner of the SAHRC says children are attending school with empty stomachs. They add that while the school nutrition programme provides some much-needed assistance to children, children will go hungry on weekends and during school holidays.
Carter believes decisive action must be taken to combat the prevalence of severe acute malnutrition in the province. They believe the government must increase the value of the Child Support Grant (CSG).
The fact that we are looking at a 25% stunting rate within the province, the fact that we are looking at children dying of hunger and that it is widespread within a lot of municipalities within the area might give us an opportunity to declare this as a state of disaster.
In 2023, the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) increased the value of the Child Support grant to R510. However, this falls below the current food poverty line of R760.
The SAHRC believes the death of children dying of hunger calls for the declaration of a disaster.
Carter argues that there is a misconception that South Africa is a food-scarce country, emphasising that the issue lies in the underspending of available funds and massive food wastage. To combat this, the SAHRC recommends the creation of a war room on hunger and increased collaboration among stakeholders.
We are not a food-scarce country, we are a food-secure country and we unfortunately just looking at the underspending of available funds something that we also looked into is we are letting food go to waste and food wastage in this country is quite massive
Carter adds that stunting has long-term consequences, impeding optimal development and potentially affecting the future of children suffering from malnutrition.
Eastern Cape Government Responds
The Eastern Cape government acknowledged that while the levels of malnutrition remain very high, the provincial government noted a drop in the fatality rate due to severe acute malnutrition from 11.8% in 2017/18 to 7% in the 2022/2023 financial year.
Government is spending more than R1 billion towards providing the CSG to close to 2 million children that include Care Dependency and Foster Care Grants. Furthermore, there are about 3,950 undocumented children that are benefiting from the CSG in the province
They add that the effective prevention of malnutrition among children requires collective responsibility between government, civil society, private sector, communities, and other appropriate stakeholders. They are implementing several programmes to combat child hunger.
