Limpopo DA calls for food aid as 1.6m pupils go hungry

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo is demanding that Premier Stanley Mathabatha provide additional funding for emergency food relief programmes.

Limpopo has an unemployment rate of 44%, and about 50% of the population lives under the poverty line. In addition to this, more than 1.6 million pupils are fed by the school nutrition programme.

The party said these were people who could become vulnerable to food insecurity due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown.

“The provincial government must have interventions in place to ensure that none of the people in Limpopo go hungry,” said the party.

DA MPL and provincial chairperson Jacques Smalle said relief measures should include the distribution of 50,000 food parcels to support a family of four for one month.

“The DA in Limpopo believes the premier must consult with the provincial treasury and relevant MECs to ensure no families are negatively affected or go hungry during lockdown,” he said.

The party’s call for additional funding was applauded in rural areas.

Chilipopo Nkele Molewa, of Bolobedu, said yesterday: “I live with my mother, uncle and my two children. We are all unemployed. We depend on social grants for survival.

“Our children depend on the school feeding scheme. But now the schools are closed, they always wonder where their next meal will come from and so do we.”

Another resident, Sanco Matome Geofrey Madia, echoed these sentiments.

“I am a security guard. Each day my mother, my four siblings and five grandchildren look at each other and pray God makes a miracle for them to eat today. The government must do something.”

Mathabatha’s spokesperson Kenny Mathivha said yesterday that non-governmental organisation Good Samaritans had made donations worth more than R2 million to the province.

“Our foot soldiers from the department of social development have already identified the needy from Polokwane, Louis Trichardt, Tzaneen, Mokopane and a few other towns,” he said.

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