GRAY MAGUIRE: Good Samaritan laws need to be put in place to provide food relief for the poor
The government has been sitting on such a bill, which plans to reduce food waste, since 2017
Covid-19 has hit us like a tidal wave. With the lockdown imminent those who can are stocking up on essentials, but for the 30-million South Africans who live on less than the upper-bound poverty line of R1,183 per month this is simply not an option. For these households, state support in the form of food relief from an already cash-strapped government must be a central strategy in securing their basic needs.
Many of the families in this impoverished position must certainly be worried given the laissez-faire attitude towards their nutritional plight they have experienced until now. Before the coronavirus outbreak WWF-SA had already released a food loss report stating that 26% of households were “experiencing hunger”, while a further 28.3% were “at risk of hunger”. With the JSE tanking, demand for primary exports in free fall, inbound tourism shut down, restaurants and bars closed and the country in lockdown, an unprecedented humanitarian response is urgently required if we are ...
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