Latest news with #ColetteSolomons
Eyewitness News
6 days ago
- General
- Eyewitness News
To address food shortage, activists call on govt to compel farm owners to share unused land with workers
CAPE TOWN - Community activists at the Food Indaba in Cape Town have called on government to compel farm owners to share unused land with workers to address food shortages in the Union Against Hunger held a mini indaba for World Hunger Day on Wednesday to support communities in asserting their right to union said that despite constitutional rights to food and nutrition, 15 million people go hungry in South on Farms activist, Colette Solomons, called for the redistribution of productive farmland, specifically to women seasonal farmers and poor communities. READ: 'We are slaves on the farms': Women farmworkers want a seat on the table "It really boggles the mind that there is such a lot of land unused, but at the same time, the workers on those farms would love to have access to land so that they can grow their own vegetables."Solomons added that there was little transformation in the commercial agriculture sector, especially in the Western Cape."If you go to Stellenbosch today, if you go to Paarl today, the land is still in the hands of white male farmers." She said the people who continued to work the land were still poor black workers.
Eyewitness News
6 days ago
- Eyewitness News
Food insecurity identified as a driver of poverty, crime in SA
CAPE TOWN - Civil society organisations, women seasonal farm workers, and academics in the Western Cape have identified food insecurity as one of the drivers of poverty and crime in the country The Union Against Hunger is holding a mini-indaba in Cape Town for World Food Day on Wednesday to support communities in asserting their right to food. ALSO READ: Union Against Hunger: Plans in place to reach goal of eradicating hunger in SA The Union Against Hunger said, despite constitutional rights to food and nutrition, 15 million people in South Africa go hungry. Speakers at the event want both government and industry leaders in the agriculture sector to be held accountable for hunger and food insecurity in the country. Women on Farms activist Colette Solomons said it's unjustifiable that women farm workers who've been working the land for decades remain landless and hungry. 'Food insecurity, for us, is the food system that puts profits above people, making it unaffordable for the women who produce the food.' Yandiswa Mazwana from the Masiphumelele Creative Hub in Fish Hoek explained the impact of food poverty in her community. 'Food insecurity, for us, it's the areas of our communities that we call wetlands where people go and just give up and start all over each and every year of their lives.' The Union Against Hunger said the mini-indaba is part of a series of community-led events taking place nationwide.
