Speeches

Keynote Address by the Hon Andries Nel, MP, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development at the 6th International Social Justice Conference: “Anchoring Food Security in Law: Legal Accountability for Equality, Peace and Climate Resilience” at the Cape Town International Convention Centre Wednesday, 15 October 2025

Programme Director, Prof Thuli Madonsela; colleagues from Stellenbosch University; representatives from the United Nations and other international bodies; members of the judiciary and academia; fellow presenters and delegates; distinguished guests — We are here to discuss hunger, but there is no famine of protocol so I wholeheartedly embrace the protocol established by the programme director.

I am deeply pleased that, after the National and African Union Anthems, we recited the Preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

We must normalise this practice whenever we meet because the Preamble is our moral compass.
It reminds us not only of who we are, but of what we aspire to become.

It is both a mirror and a mandate — the soul of our constitutional democracy expressed in words.
When we say, “We, the people of South Africa, recognise the injustices of our past,” we acknowledge that hunger was one of those injustices — a deliberate instrument of oppression.

Food was withheld as a means of control; access to land, water and resources was denied to the majority.
To recognise those injustices today means confronting their enduring legacies — the empty stomachs of children, the deep inequalities in land ownership, and the persistence of poverty in communities still shaped by apartheid geography.
When we “honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land,” we must remember that their struggle was not only for political rights, but for the right to live free from want.

Freedom cannot be full if our people remain trapped in cycles of hunger.
To honour them, we must translate their vision into material reality — ensuring that every South African can sit at the table of our democracy with dignity, nourished and secure.
When we “respect those who have worked to build and develop our country,” we acknowledge that nation-building requires more than infrastructure and institutions.
It demands that we build a society where development is measured not only by economic growth, but by whether the most vulnerable among us have food, shelter and hope.

Food security is not charity; it is the foundation of development.
When we affirm that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity,” we affirm that hunger anywhere diminishes belonging everywhere.
A nation cannot truly belong to all who live in it if millions are excluded from its most basic promise — the ability to feed themselves and their families.
The Preamble then sets out what this recognition and commitment require of us.
We are called to “heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights.” 

Hunger is a wound that divides — between the fed and the unfed, the secure and the desperate.
Healing our divisions demands that we treat hunger as a violation of justice, not merely a social problem.
We are charged to “improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person.” 
No potential can flourish on an empty stomach. Hunger blunts talent, undermines education, and corrodes dignity.
Ensuring access to food is therefore not peripheral to freedom — it is central to freeing the potential of each person.
Finally, the Preamble calls on us to “build a united and democratic South Africa able to take its rightful place in the family of nations.” 

In that family, our moral standing depends not only on what we proclaim in international forums but on how we feed our people at home.

Food security is the foundation of peace and stability; a hungry nation cannot be a just or united one.
Thus, when we recite the Preamble, we reaffirm that the right to food lies at the heart of our constitutional vision.
It is the golden thread linking dignity, equality and freedom.
If we are to build a South Africa based on social justice and fundamental human rights, then the eradication of hunger must be seen as a constitutional, legal and moral imperative — not an act of benevolence.
The right to food touches the very core of our humanity.

The South Africa envisaged in our Preamble cannot be one where people are hungry, where children go to school on empty stomachs, or where families live in daily uncertainty about their next meal.
The right to food means that everyone must have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food — and that our systems, laws and policies must make this a lived reality.

The reality of hunger
Unfortunately, the reality of hunger is stark.
Statistics South Africa’s recent report on food security shows that in 2023 almost one in five households (19.7%) experienced moderate to severe food insecurity, and 8.0% endured severe food insecurity.
Food insecurity has risen steadily since 2019.

Female-headed households and black African-headed households bear a disproportionate burden, and provinces with vast rural areas record the highest prevalence.
Strikingly, even households engaged in agricultural activities reported higher rates of moderate to severe food insecurity than those with no agricultural involvement — proximity to production does not guarantee access.
Other evidence adds urgency.

The South African Human Rights Commission has highlighted high rates of child stunting — nearly three in ten children under five — and unacceptable levels of food waste, with large quantities of edible food ending in landfills.
These facts demand not only compassion but constitutional action.

The constitutional framework
Section 27 of the Constitution declares: “Everyone has the right to have access to sufficient food and water.”
Section 28 affirms children’s unqualified right to basic nutrition.
These provisions are binding.

They reflect our commitment to social justice, equality and human dignity.
In South Africa, the right to food is not merely a moral imperative; it is a constitutional promise that every person—regardless of race, income or geography — should be able to live with dignity.

Turning rights into reality: jurisprudence and policy
Our socio-economic rights jurisprudence has been ground-breaking.
Apartheid-era dispossession entrenched food insecurity that still disproportionately affects black communities, women, rural populations and people in informal settlements.
The right to food is inseparable from our obligation to redress historical injustice and advance equality under section 9.
The Constitutional Court has laid foundations for anchoring food security in law.

In Mazibuko v City of Johannesburg (2009), the Court confirmed that access to water under section 27 is interdependent with other rights, including food, because water is essential for agriculture and nutrition.
Although the City’s policy was upheld, the Court emphasised the state’s duty to ensure meaningful access for marginalised groups — a principle equally applicable to food security.

In Residents of Joe Slovo Community, Western Cape v Thubelisha Homes (2009), the Court stressed that interventions affecting vulnerable communities must respect dignity and livelihoods.
Forced removals from agricultural land or urban settlements can sever access to food sources, underscoring the need for legal protections that prevent deepening deprivation.
Policy has sought to operationalise these duties.

The National Policy on Food and Nutrition Security (2014) and the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) — which feeds over nine million learners daily — reflect the fulfil obligation.
The Restitution of Land Rights Act (1994) and the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (1997) protect access to land, addressing the respect obligation.

Yet challenges persist: the slow pace of land reform mandated by section 25 limits food sovereignty for smallholders, and many rural households remain excluded from productive assets and markets.
We all recall the litigation that challenged the suspension of the NSNP during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The courts ordered the resumption of meals, reaffirming that children’s right to basic nutrition is immediate and non-negotiable, and that the right to food exists independently of school attendance.

In August 2024, the Minister of Basic Education suspended a proposed tender to centralise the NSNP amid concerns about integrity, feasibility and the risks of over-centralisation—lessons from previous failures showed that a single point of delivery can magnify risk.
Reforms must guard against corruption and keep the well-being of learners at the centre.

Laws, policies and interventions
The right to food is intertwined with social justice.
Hunger is often the product not of absolute scarcity but of inequality, discrimination and exclusion.
Giving effect to the right requires confronting landlessness and displacement, gender-based discrimination in access to food, and the marginalisation of indigenous and rural communities.

Government has adopted laws and policies to promote access to land and food production, including the National Food and Nutrition Security Plan (2018–2023).
Social grants alleviate poverty and improve access to food.
The NSNP provides a daily meal to learners in quintile 1–3 public schools and, in 2023/24, served more than nine million learners across nearly 20,000 schools.

Climate justice and food systems
Food security and climate justice are inseparable.
Section 24 guarantees the right to an environment not harmful to health or well-being and to sustainable development.
Climate change is already disrupting communities, economies and ecosystems through heatwaves, floods, droughts and fires.

These impacts reduce agricultural productivity, undermine availability and affordability, and exacerbate poverty and inequality—particularly for women, children and smallholder farmers.
Soil degradation, declining water availability and biodiversity loss weaken local food systems and drive up prices.
Addressing climate-related food insecurity is therefore a human-rights and social-justice imperative.
South Africa has begun to build a statutory response.

The Climate Change Act provides the first dedicated legislative framework and requires all spheres of government to plan for adaptation.
The National Climate Change Response Policy, together with the Presidential Climate Commission — an independent, multi-stakeholder statutory body — supports a just transition to a low-emissions, climate-resilient economy.

Climate change is a global challenge that demands collective action, and South Africa approaches it as part of broader sustainable development and international cooperation.

Land for food production
Government has taken steps to support small-scale farmers and improve production — through land acquisition and redistribution, community gardens and urban agriculture, and programmes to reduce waste and redistribute surplus food.
The Extension of Security of Tenure Act promotes secure land tenure for rural and farm dwellers, enabling long-term investment in production.

Thousands of hectares of underutilised state land have been released for agriculture, alongside support for beneficiaries with infrastructure, inputs and technical training, to ensure land is productive and livelihoods are sustained.

The global lens: SDGs and international law
The Sustainable Development Goals provide a global framework for justice and equity.
Three are especially relevant: SDG 2, Zero Hunger; SDG 1, No Poverty; and SDG 10, Reduced Inequalities.
They remind us that food justice is both a national duty and a global mandate.

Internationally, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), ratified by South Africa in 2015, recognises in Article 11 “the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living… including adequate food.”
General Comment No. 12 clarifies that the right is realised when every person has physical and economic access, at all times, to adequate food or the means to procure it.

It emphasises availability, accessibility and sustainability, and sets out state duties to respect, protect and fulfil the right—backed by national frameworks, monitoring systems and accountability mechanisms, and reinforced by international cooperation.

What this means for South Africa
The National Development Plan (NDP) commits us to: promote sustainable smallholders; achieve inclusive growth; advance regional food security to stabilise supply and prices; pursue land reform; invest in rural infrastructure; and promote research, development and skills that build agricultural resilience to climate change.

Our participation in the African Continental Free Trade Area, the G20 and BRICS is leveraged to advance these objectives.
Trade dynamics directly affect food prices; we must respond proactively to protect low-income households and vulnerable groups.

This is a constitutional imperative.
The late Chief Justice Pius Langa, in a lecture at Stellenbosch University in 2006, reminded us that our Constitution is a transformative one and that the core idea of transformative constitutionalism is that we much change.
Guided by this vision, South Africa should continuously move towards this ideal of change - by way of considering a Social Justice Impact Assessment Matrix (SIAM) in policy and fiscal processes; budgeting for nutrition and food sovereignty and building inclusive democratic platforms to co-create food-systems policy.

The Medium-Term Development Plan (2024–2029) adopts a multi-pronged approach—direct support to agriculture and households, combined with poverty reduction, economic growth and infrastructure investment — to improve both food availability and household access.

As we approach the final phase of Agenda 2030 and assume a leadership role in the G20 under the theme “Fostering Solidarity, Equality and Sustainable Development,” South Africa must lead by example.

I would like to put forward the following “un-mandated reflections” on possible courses of action that we can consider to advance social justice and end hunger:

1. Codify the right to food by looking into framework legislation giving full effect to sections 27 and 28.
2. Institutionalise anticipatory tools such as SIAM to assist with equity impact assessments for all law-making, policy and budgeting.
3. Let constitutional obligations shape fiscal choices, possibly ring-fencing nutrition and investments in resilient local food systems.
4. Further elevate participatory democracy by creating civic spaces where youth, informal food traders, smallholders, women and migrants shape priorities on food, land and livelihoods.
5. Further aligning our domestic strategies with the ICESCR, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the SDGs for tangible, measurable impact.

Law as a tool of social imagination
One of our most powerful tools is the law’s capacity to reimagine a just society.
As Prof Thuli Madonsela reminds us: “Social justice means the equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms by all, regardless of difference or disadvantage.”

Law does not merely regulate access; it helps define social reality — deciding who is seen and who is rendered invisible.
To change outcomes, we must change what, and who, the law sees. Food is not charity but a constitutional entitlement.
Poverty is not personal failure but systemic exclusion. True justice feeds the body and restores dignity.

Constitutional responsibility
A core obligation flowing from our freedom is to translate constitutional promise into constitutional reality.
Our Constitution requires active engagement, not passive observation.
It demands that we govern with care, allocate resources equitably and lead with solidarity.
International law sets standards, but domestic systems operationalise them.

Legal recognition alone is insufficient; we need robust regulatory frameworks to monitor compliance, enforce standards and ensure accountability — while balancing global responsibility with domestic realities.
South Africa is bound by instruments such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and remains committed to the multilateral, rules-based climate regime under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

We are active in global climate forums, using our G20 presidency and preparations toward COP30 to advocate for climate justice and inclusive decision-making.

Our task now is to ensure that legal frameworks are intersectional; that climate resilience and sustainable agriculture are integrated into food-security planning; and that data and performance monitoring are strengthened across all spheres of government.

Conclusion
The right to adequate food is not a privilege; it is a legal right in international law and a constitutional imperative in South Africa.

Turning recognition into real-world impact requires political will, institutional capacity and unwavering commitment to social justice.

We must move beyond rhetoric to implementation — expanding nutrition programmes beyond schools to reach vulnerable communities and ensuring equitable land access for food production.
In the words of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil: “Hunger is actually the worst weapon of mass destruction. It claims millions of victims each year.”

This is also why we cannot turn away while the population of Gaza and Palestine face extreme and deliberately induced and weaponised hunger and hundreds of thousands teeter on the brink of famine.
Ignoring this crisis is not an option — humanity demands action before lives are lost to starvation.
Social justice demands that we dismantle the structures that keep food out of reach.

José Andrés an internationally renowned chef, humanitarian, and founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization that provides food relief, serves up the following words:
“Food is national security. Food is economy. It is employment, energy, history. Food is everything.”

Let us be the generation that turns constitutional promises into lived realities.
Let us work together to ensure that no one goes hungry.
The right to food is not only the right to be fed; it is the right to feed oneself — with dignity.

I thank you.