In a recent debate on a topic proposed by the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development, Ms Bridget Masango, members of the National Assembly shared their concerns about child malnutrition and called for a comprehensive social programme to tackle the scourge.
Ms Masango, a Democratic Alliance Member of Parliament, opened the discussions on the subject: “Solutions to address the severe malnutrition crisis, confronting past failures to coordinate and implement critical interventions to protect children from hunger”.
“Malnutrition is not simply halted by enough food but with enough nutritious food. The journey to healthy children starts with ensuring that their pregnant mothers are not malnourished. Malnourished mothers give birth to small babies, who then face a lifelong struggle to catch up. But we can change this trajectory by supporting pregnant women, especially those at risk,” said Ms Masango.
She raised a concern that the Food and Nutrition Security Council, an initiative aimed at coordinating programmes and policies to address hunger and malnutrition, was yet to live up to the promise, and that departments continue to act in silos. “We need the Council to coordinate government, civil society and business to drive a single, bold national programme. Without leadership, plans remain paper but with leadership, they become food in a child’s stomach,” she said.
Ms Masango proposed that the Child Support Grant must start earlier, during pregnancy, to help mothers eat better, attend clinics and breastfeed. “We can end child malnutrition, but we will need a whole of society approach. The DG Murray Trust recommends three main goals in tackling malnutrition: make protein-rich foods affordable; stop babies being born too small; and strengthening families and communities to feed themselves,” she said.
She added that these goals are in line with her political party’s social development policy. This policy proposes addressing malnutrition by pegging the child grant at the food poverty line; extending the child grant to include learners who are still attending school over the age of 18 until they complete their National Senior Certificate; extending the child grant to cover pregnant mothers to support child nutrition goals; using food hubs to reduce food insecurity and malnutrition; and strengthening the link between community outreach programmes with healthcare services.
The Minister of Social Development, Ms Sisisi Tolashe, praised her party, the African National Congress, for introducing progressive policies to eradicate hunger and malnutrition in South Africa. “South Africa has made real progress is tackling child malnutrition. The social assistance programme is, without any shadow of doubt, South Africa’s most important anti-hunger programme, making sure an average 28 million individuals and households can afford an adequate nutritional diet. This is the most extensive and responsive anti-poverty programme that provides much-needed income support and has transformed the lives of millions of South Africans, protecting many vulnerable individuals and households from hardship and hunger,” said the Minister.
She said when government introduced the Child Support Grant in 1998, it aimed to end the cycle of malnutrition and address the nutritional needs of children in South Africa. “Our social assistance programme is recognised globally as the most efficient poverty reduction strategy – which significantly improves health, education, wellbeing, as well as shield vulnerable households from adverse economic effects,” she added.
Debating on behalf of the official opposition, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, Mr Andile Mngxitama launched an attack on the agriculture and food retail sectors, accusing accusing them of committing “genocide against black children” by destroying food while thousands of children die from malnutrition and hunger.
“White farmers and the food retail sector are busy with food genocide against black children. A shocking 12 000 children die annually from lack of food in South Africa, yet the agricultural and retail sectors destroy huge amounts of food annually. There is an evil alliance between the food retail sector and the agricultural sector in South Africa who destroy about 33 percent of food annually, to create artificial scarcity in order profits up,” suggested Mr Mngxitama.
He also claimed that there are testimonies of tomatoes being buried in big holes and milk being poured into rives by farmers, calling this a cruel anomaly while children die from lack of food. “It is profit before people. To keep up the profits, the food cannot be made accessible to all because that would disturb the logic of capitalism where profits are driven by scarcity through the capitalist logic of supply and demand. If the demand is high and supply is low, it drives up profits by pushing prices up and they destroy food to realise artificial scarcity,” said the MKP parliamentarian.
Ms Naledi Chirwa-Mpungose of the Economic Freedom Fighters blamed the death of children, from hunger and malnutrition on poor political leadership. “Having children being hungry to a point of death is a man-made crisis. We don’t have a resource issue in this country, but we have a political leadership crisis,” she said.
Ms Chirwa-Mpungose said food insecurity, which affected about 53% of households, was directly linked to child malnutrition. Over 2,8 million children under the age of seven live in homes that are unable to provide for their nutritional needs and many suffer from chronic undernutrition. She called for the Child Support Grant to be increased to afford a food basket and for the School Nutrition Programme to be extended to three meals per day, instead of the current one.
“The National School Nutrition Programme must expand its mandate to three meals a day because the money is there, sadly landing in the hands of criminals. And the child grant must be increased to afford the cost of a grocery basket. R500 cannot sustain any of us for more than 2 days. Why do we think it is sufficient to cater for the nutritional needs of a child for a month,” said Ms Chirwa-Mpungose.
She also called for all early childhood development centres to be registered by the end of the year. In addition, they must receive adequate support and a subsidy from the government.
Inkatha Freedom Party representative Ms Busaphi Machi said any debate about child malnutrition must go beyond discussing statistics and come with tangible solutions. “Our focus must shift from diagnosing failure to implanting ethical solutions that are rooted in dignity and self-reliance,” she said.
For immediate relief, Ms Machi added, we must strengthen and adapt the existing child support grant system to ensure that resources reach children directly. “Too often grants do not reach the intended child, with grandmothers serving as primary carers while the mothers and fathers get the funds and use them for their own benefit or provide only a fraction to the actual caregivers. The child support must be complemented by a dedicated SASSA voucher programme specially designed to support vulnerable families and directly tackle child malnutrition,” said Ms Machi.
Sakhile Mokoena
2 December 2025
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