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Daily Maverick
27-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Maverick
More than two dozen children have starved to death in Nelson Mandela Bay in the past year
Alarmingly, the numbers have almost doubled since 2023, when 14 children under the age of five starved to death in Nelson Mandela Bay. Twenty-five children under the age of five died of severe acute malnutrition in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro in the past 12 months, and hundreds more had to be treated for less severe conditions triggered by starvation. Statistics released by the Eastern Cape Department of Health reveal that in the past 12 months, 237 children under five were diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition and 501 with moderately severe and acute malnutrition, with more than 100 children being diagnosed in March alone. Alarmingly, the numbers have almost doubled since 2023, when 14 children under the age of five starved to death in Nelson Mandela Bay and another 216 new cases of severe acute malnutrition were confirmed over 18 months between 2022 and 2023. Read more: A silent killer is stalking babies in Nelson Mandela Bay Nelson Mandela Bay is widely regarded as the most prosperous metro in the province. Despite being the largest metro in the province, it has been allocated only R855,283 for its Social Relief of Distress programme by the provincial Department of Social Development. Between August 2024 and March 2025, only 241 food parcels were distributed by the department in the metro. The Human Sciences Research Council's National Food and Nutrition Security Survey, which was published last year, showed that in the metro 40% of children were stunted to some degree, with 14% being diagnosed with severe stunting, and 1.5% diagnosed as 'wasting', meaning their weight is lower than average for their height. According to the survey, 20% of households in the metro were experiencing severe food insecurity. In September 2024, the Eastern Cape Social Economic Council unpacked a provincial strategy to address hunger in the Eastern Cape. This followed the release of a report on hunger in the province by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), which said child malnutrition in the Eastern Cape should be declared a disaster in terms of the Disaster Management Act, compelling the government to intervene immediately and decisively. It found that a substantial percentage of children in the Eastern Cape were suffering from malnutrition. The SAHRC suggested that the government should increase the Child Support Grant (it was R480 at the time and is now R520) and extend the school nutrition programme to early childhood development centres. The Eastern Cape head of the SAHRC, Dr Eileen Carter, said the data that was provided to them had shown that from 2021 to 2022, more than 1,000 children in the province were diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition, and 120 of them had died. The data also showed that 25% of the province's children were stunted. This has now increased to 40%. With the automotive sector being the heartbeat of the province's metros, the Automotive Business Council of SA's CEO, Mikel Mabasa, this month warned that the Eastern Cape was facing a humanitarian crisis because of high export tariffs imposed by the US that will probably come into effect on Friday. The tariffs have put a potential 100,000 jobs on the line. DM
TimesLIVE
10-07-2025
- Business
- TimesLIVE
Steenhuisen hails 'youth budget' as 3,000 agriculture graduates land internships
Agriculture minister John Steenhuisen has revealed that South Africa's agricultural sector is experiencing a surge of momentum with more than 3,000 recent agricultural graduates placed in internship programmes. Steenhuisen said this is part of a broader push by the government to uplift youth and tackle food insecurity. The agriculture minister made this announcement during his department's budget vote speech, describing the allocation as 'a budget for the youth' and pointing to major investments in training, education and food security. 'More than 66,000 farmers have received training, and more than 3,000 agricultural graduates have been placed through our internship programmes. We are integrating all 11 agricultural colleges into the higher education system to ensure that they become centres of excellence,' said Steenhuisen. The Macroeconomic Digest Labour Report for May 2024 published by the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) showed that employment in the agriculture sector increased by 50% on a long-term basis, from 627,000 jobs in the first quarter of 2011 to 941,000 in the first quarter of this year. According to the NAMC, agriculture employed about 5.6% of the employed pool in the first quarter of this year, making the sector essential in the labour force. It said data from Stats SA showed that men have been the primary participants in the agriculture sector from the first quarter of 2012 to the first quarter of 2024. The number of men and women actively involved in agriculture was 641,000 and 300,000, respectively, in the first quarter of this year. 'During the first quarter of 2024, the number of women increased by 8,000 (2.8%), while the number of men increased by 13,000 (2.1%) compared to the previous quarter. When combining both genders, the number of people employed in agriculture increased by 21,000 (2.3%) for the first quarter of 2024.' the report said. In a time of economic uncertainty, agriculture has become a rare economic success story. The sector grew by 15.8% in the first quarter of 2025 — a performance that added 0.4 percentage points to South Africa's overall GDP. This is in stark contrast to declines recorded in manufacturing, mining, electricity and construction. Behind the growth figures lie urgent social challenges. 'According to the National Food and Nutrition Security Survey, only 36.5% of households are food secure. Nearly 18% experience severe food insecurity. These are not just figures. They are expressions of a child going to bed hungry, of a parent sacrificing meals, of dreams deferred,' said Steenhuisen. Steenhuisen said to address this, the department is implementing the 2024—2029 National Food and Nutrition Security Plan, in collaboration with the departments of health, education, social development and the environment. 'We are scaling up school gardens, community food hubs and home food production,' he said. Steenhuisen also announced plans to promote neglected and underutilised species (NUS) such as amaranth, African leafy vegetables, and bambara groundnuts — crops known for their high nutrition, drought resistance and cultural value. 'These offer nutrition, resilience and cultural relevance,' he said. He emphasised that the future of agriculture lies in innovation and youth participation. 'The future of agriculture will be decided by the next generation, not only those who inherit the land, but those who study climate-smart techniques, monitor disease outbreaks, and build data systems for traceability,' he said. Steenhuisen said to support this vision, the department is opening pathways for young people into veterinary science, agritech, on-farm learning and extension services. 'Let us empower them to build a new kind of agriculture, one rooted in science, community, and opportunity,' he said.
