Supplementary SAHRC Submission: Just Transition in the Food System Group

This supplementary submission by the Just Transition in the Food System Group to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) argues that food insecurity in South Africa is a result of structural conditions and policy failures. It advocates for a rights-based food system transition focusing on agroecology, a Universal Basic Income Grant, improved land access for women, and aligned state budgeting to fulfill the constitutional right to food.

• Food insecurity in South Africa is driven by structural conditions such as precarious work, unemployment, inadequate wages, climate vulnerability, weak labour law enforcement, and insufficient social protection. These factors specifically exacerbate vulnerability for Coloured households in agricultural regions through gendered income insecurity, labour broking, and casualised farm work.
• The submission proposes several interventions to improve food security and affordability, including the implementation of a Universal Basic Income Grant funded by progressive measures, price-related interventions, public food infrastructure, and the expansion of agroecological production to support biodiversity, climate resilience, and farmer livelihoods.
• Barriers to land access for women are rooted in both law and practice, including patriarchal norms, insecure tenure, and weak administration. A case study of Hillview Farm, a Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy farm, illustrates that small-scale farmers face poor infrastructure, departmental support inadequacies, and administrative delays that hinder productive land use.

APA

iej (2026). Supplementary SAHRC Submission: Just Transition in the Food System Group. Institute for Economic Justice. https://iej.org.za/resource/submission/supplementary-sahrc-submission-just-transition-in-the-food-system-group/

Chicago

iej. Supplementary SAHRC Submission: Just Transition in the Food System Group. Institute for Economic Justice, 2026. https://iej.org.za/resource/submission/supplementary-sahrc-submission-just-transition-in-the-food-system-group/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=iej |title=Supplementary SAHRC Submission: Just Transition in the Food System Group |publisher=Institute for Economic Justice |date=21 April 2026 |url=https://iej.org.za/resource/submission/supplementary-sahrc-submission-just-transition-in-the-food-system-group/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{iej2026supplementary, author = {iej}, title = {{Supplementary SAHRC Submission: Just Transition in the Food System Group}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2026}, month = apr, url = {https://iej.org.za/resource/submission/supplementary-sahrc-submission-just-transition-in-the-food-system-group/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }