The COVID-19 pandemic has had major consequences for the global economy, particularly for food security and nutrition. South Africa, like many other countries throughout the world, has been hit hard. According to Statistics South Africa’s Measuring Food Security in South Africa: Applying the Food Insecurity Experience Scale, about 23.6 percent of South Africans suffered moderate to severe food insecurity in 2020, while 14.9% experienced severe food insecurity.
Food security, as defined by the World Food Summit in 1996, exists when all people have constant access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs for an active and healthy lifestyle. Food insecurity occurs when people have insufficient access to food and struggle to meet their basic needs, whereas severe food insecurity happens when there is a major shortage of access to food. As food insecurity worsens, the amount of food consumed falls and some meals are skipped. The most extreme situation is characterized by hunger as a result of being unable to eat and even going without food for a whole day due to a lack of money and other resources.
In 2019, nearly one in every five black Africans experienced moderate to severe food insecurity, followed by coloreds (16.1%). Whites and Indians/Asians were the least affected.
Between 2019 and 2020, the number of South Africans experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity, particularly severe food insecurity, increased. While all provinces were affected, the Northern Cape (17.6%) and Eastern Cape (16.6%) were outliers, since their food insecurity prevalence rates in 2020 were lower than the national average (23.6%).
The COVID-19 epidemic deprived many South Africans of their constitutionally guaranteed access to adequate food, undermining efforts to achieve the National Development Plan’s and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of “Zero Hunger” by 2030.
Unemployment can also have a negative impact on a household’s food security. The COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns created significant economic disruptions and contributed to the loss of livelihoods and money. Between 2017 and 2020, household unemployment (no member of the household working) increased in South Africa. Female-headed households were the most affected, since over half of female-headed households did not have an employed person in 2020. Limpopo (47,8%), Eastern Cape (47,3%), Free State (45,3%), and North West (43,0%) had the largest proportions of unemployed families in 2020.
