Latest news with #UAH
Daily Maverick
3 days ago
- Health
- Daily Maverick
SA food system ‘is not broken' — there is a lack of will to ensure food security
On World Hunger Day, Gauteng MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development Vuyiswa Ramokgopa was among the keynote speakers at the Union Against Hunger (UAH) community meeting in Lenasia South, Johannesburg, calling for an end to hunger. This was one of multiple information and capacity-building events planned by the organisation. MEC Vuyiswa Ramokgopa commended Union Against Hunger for bringing stakeholders together to begin the process of demanding change and fighting against hunger. She likened public and civil society collaboration to a soccer team, with all players having a significant role to play. 'I love what UAH has done in bringing others into the fold, that is exactly how we need to address these issues. We need to foster a safe, prosperous, hunger-free South Africa in one generation. We can't wait for 30 years, we don't have 30 years. That's why, as a department, we have committed to a reduction of 10% in this province by 2029. It doesn't sound like a lot, but that is at least 250,000 people no longer experiencing hunger. Let's end hunger,' said Ramokgopa Despite progressive constitutional guarantees, including the right to food and basic nutrition, millions of South Africans still face chronic and acute hunger. This mismatch between legal promises and lived deprivation is the focus of the Union Against Hunger (UAH). 'This year, on World Hunger Day, 28 May 2025, the UAH will be hosting a number of dialogues nationally to engage communities and the public and share information that will better enable and support the mobilisation of communities to demand their right to food and hold government and industry to account,' said Dr Busiso Moyo, member of the UAH secretariat and postdoctoral researcher with the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security. 'The food system is not broken,' Moyo said at the mini-food indaba UAH event in Cape Town, which was held simultaneously. 'It is working exactly as intended, to accommodate some and exclude many.' The UAH, with its founding members, which include the Healthy Living Alliance, Grow Great, Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, the Women on Farms Project, Callas Foundation and the Centre of Excellence in Food Security, will, through these activities, draw attention to the 'slow violence' of hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity in South Africa. Civil society organisations all echoed that hunger needed political will and a policy fit for purpose, over and above citizens understanding their right to food. The Women on Farms organisation chaired a public meeting in Cape Town and called on Shoprite CEO Pieter Engelbrecht to urgently drop food prices to save lives. Zwelinzima Vavi, General Secretary of the South African Federation of Trade Unions, said the painful daily reality that haunted communities needed to be confronted — 'the stomachs that go to sleep empty, the children whose growth is stunted, and the families forced to choose between a loaf of bread and a school uniform'. According to Union Against Hunger, about 15.3 million people (25.8% of the population) experience food insecurity, while 6.8 million people (11.4% of the population) face chronic hunger. More than 1.5 million children have stunted growth as a result of chronic malnutrition. More shocking is that three infants die daily due to severe malnutrition in a country where the Constitution clearly states that 'everyone has a right to sufficient food and every child to basic nutrition'. 'These are not just numbers,' said Vavi. 'They are a national scandal. Comrades, what are the sources of this crisis? First, we must talk about land. Hunger in South Africa is rooted in land dispossession. It is a direct legacy of colonialism and apartheid. To this day, 72% of farmland remains in white hands. While land restitution was meant to reverse this injustice, the government has failed dismally,' said Vavi Vavi said that by 2022, more than 90% of land claims resulted in financial compensation, not the return of land. Of the land that had been returned, more than 70% lay fallow, abandoned, because there was no post-settlement support, no equipment, no inputs, no training, no credit. The state had set people up to fail. 'Instead of a redistribution programme that empowers the landless to produce food and employment, we are witnessing a slow surrender to the land hunger of mining houses, golf estates and commercial elites,' said Vavi He said that the food system was rigged against the poor. 'Let's talk about the profiteering of the big food monopolies. Just six companies dominate our food retail sector – and they are making obscene profits while our people starve. In 2023, the CEO of Shoprite, Pieter Engelbrecht, earned a package of R63.5-million. That's over R170,000 per day – enough to feed over 2,000 families daily on the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group's household food basket. 'Meanwhile, food prices have risen more than double the CPI. The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group shows that in April 2025, the average food basket cost over R5,500 while most workers earn less than R4,000.' 'This is not just a market failure. It is criminal greed. 'Third, we must expose the double standards of global trade,' said Vavi. The Union Against Hunger also launched a petition (available here in English; here in isiZulu; here in Sesotho; here in isiXhosa) calling on Shoprite CEO Pieter Engelbrecht, who reportedly earned R83-million in the 2024 financial year, to bring food prices down urgently. The three main demands are:
Fashion Network
5 days ago
- General
- Fashion Network
Litkovska launches charitable capsule collection to support Ukraine
Ukrainian fashion house Litkovska has launched a charitable capsule collection in partnership with the official fundraising department of the Azov Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine. The limited-edition line aims to raise UAH 3.5 million (approximately $90,000 USD) to fund critical evacuation vehicles to rescue the wounded in the most dangerous areas of the frontline. The collection features items crafted with deep intention, including bracelets and tokens made from spent artillery shells brought from the frontline, as well as shirts and bandanas featuring embroidered prayers. The initiative also features a series of eight exclusive ceramic art objects created by Gorn Ceramics. The objects will be on display at the Litkovska Basecamp flagship in Kyiv until they are auctioned for charity in June. 'Azov has a special meaning for me, as well as for many Ukrainians,' said Lilia Litkovska, founder of Litkovska. 'Together with we have been working for a long time to develop items that would be filled with meaning and strength, both for the Azov defenders and those who support them back home. And it is a great honor for us to join the campaign to raise money for the medical vehicles that save the lives of our soldiers.' Earlier this year, Litkovska launched a capsule collection with British image-maker Nick Knight, dubbed The Flowers Know Better, with all profits going to City of Goodness, a Ukrainian humanitarian initiative.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Russians destroy agricultural company's potato storage facility and machinery worth millions
An agricultural company in Chernihiv Oblast was damaged during a large-scale Russian attack on the night of 25-26 May. Source: All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council Details: The missile strike completely destroyed a potato storage facility with built-in equipment and containers, and a sorting shop. A neighbouring storage facility, a grain warehouse and a canopy between the storage buildings were significantly damaged. "The production stocks in the storage facility were completely destroyed. The blast wave damaged agricultural machinery: tractors, a planter, a Manitou loader, and much more. Some of the machinery was completely destroyed, some was damaged," said Mykola Hordiichuk, the director of the company. Early reports estimated the agricultural company's losses at over 50 million UAH (about US$1.2 million). Hordiichuk is the director of Agrico Ukraine LLC, the official representative of the Dutch cooperative Agrico. Agrico Ukraine LLC is a leading actor in the Ukrainian seed potato market with a share of over 50%. The company imports and grows seed material from the Netherlands and has two farms: Brovary Kartoplia LLC (Semypolky, Kyiv Oblast) and AF Andriivske LLC (Chernihiv Oblast). The company cultivates over 150 hectares of potatoes and owns several potato storage facilities with sorting and packaging lines. These facilities are also used as training grounds for industrial producers. The company also owns the Papas trademark. The Russian attack presumably affected one of its facilities in the village of Avdiivka, Chernihiv Oblast – AF Andriivske LLC, whose director is also Hordiichuk. Background: On the night of 25-26 May, Russian troops carried out another attack on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, using missiles, kamikaze drones, aerial bombs and artillery. Several areas were affected, industrial facilities, residential buildings and infrastructure were damaged. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ukrainian Parliament approves amendments to Budget Code to launch minerals deal with US
The Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) has supported, as a basis, the draft law amending the Budget Code to implement the agreement on minerals deals between Ukraine and the United States. Source: Yaroslav Zhelezniak, First Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Taxation and Customs Policy Details: A total of 286 MPs voted in favour of the draft law No. 13256 in the first reading. Amendments to the Budget Code are needed to fill the US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund, established under a bilateral agreement. Ukraine's contribution to this fund will be formed from 50% of the revenues received after the agreement enters into force from: royalties for the extraction of oil, gas, gas condensate and other minerals from new licences; issuing new special permits for mineral use; selling the state share of production under new production sharing agreements. These funds will be credited to a special fund of the state budget, from where, at the decision of the main spending unit (likely the Ministry of Economy), they will be transferred to the Reconstruction Fund. Roksolana Pidlasa, Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Budget Committee, said that if the agreement were to be in effect from 2019, Ukraine's contribution to the fund could amount to more than UAH 3 billion (approx. US$72.38 million) over five years. Background: On 1 May, Ukraine's Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signed the minerals deal. "Together with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, I have signed the agreement on the establishment of the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund," Svyrydenko wrote. The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine had published the text of a memorandum with the United States on the completion of a formal agreement on economic partnership and a Reconstruction Investment Fund. The text was published on the website of the Ministry of Economy. It states that the agreement will provide for the creation of an investment fund for Ukraine's reconstruction. On 8 May, the Verkhovna Rada voted to ratify the agreement on establishing a joint investment fund between Ukraine and the United States. All 338 MPs voted in favour, with none of them abstaining or voting against ratification. On 12 May, Zelenskyy signed the ratification of the mineral agreement with the United States. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ukraine's Defence Ministry reveals how much money it spends on female military clothing
Between 2024 and 2025, over UAH 230 million (about US$5.5 million) were spent on adapted clothing for female military personnel. The procurement agency State Logistics Operator provided the necessary equipment for women in the military. Source: Ministry of Defence of Ukraine Quote from Hlib Kanievskyi, Director of the Procurement Policy Department of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine: "We are systematically changing our approach to clothing provision, expanding the range and introducing new requirements that correspond to the anatomical features of women." Details: The ministry added that it had already developed a range of clothing items for female defenders and approved their technical specifications. These include: underwear and tops; summer field suits; underwear for mid-season; underwear for cold weather (winter shirts and long johns). The Ministry of Defence has also approved two models of modular body armour sets (1-8), which are adapted to the needs and anatomical features of women. In addition, the ministry has completed testing of winter jackets and trousers for female defenders, which will provide protection from wind and moisture. Their technical specifications are currently being developed. The clothing provision also includes basic items of uniform for women in the army, which were developed before the start of the full-scale war: tunic; skirt; trousers; long- and short-sleeved shirts; tie; cap; winter everyday hat; jumper; coat; chrome shoes; insulated boots. The Ministry of Defence noted that some of the military's clothing is universal for both sexes. However, the uniforms are designed with women's characteristics in mind, so the clothing is smaller in size and has a different cut. Background: The Ministry of Defence showed the first samples of underwear for female defenders and began developing lighter body armour and winter clothing for them. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
