The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has called for a State of Disaster to be declared and urgent action to be taken to resolve a hunger crisis in the Eastern Cape.
Following an in-depth investigation, the SAHRC found that child hunger in the Eastern Cape qualifies as a disaster and should be declared as such under the Disaster Management Act.
The commission says it has presented its recommendations to government and if the recommendations are not applied, it will take the government to court.
SAHRC Chairperson Chris Nissen says, “We need to deal with the systemic nature of poverty and starvation and hunger, unemployment and all of this in that province. And therefore the commission is saying when they establish the war room and bring all the government departments together, they can then look at sustainable models of how to tackle the issues of hunger.”
“We’ve made our recommendations. If we do not see an implementation of these recommendations we will need to do whatever’s in our power, even if it means litigation.”
PODCAST | SAHRC Chairperson Chris Nissen’s full interview on SAfm Sunrise:
