Amid ‘corona corruption’, food parcels are a good gesture, but are not sustainable

It is already happening. People are handing out food parcels that apparently cost R1,200 yet, the contents thereof wouldn’t cost more than R200. It breaks my heart to see how people and organisations are being opportunists amid the dire effects of the coronavirus.

Sadly, it looks like poverty could kill us more than the coronavirus itself. No, this is not solicited research. It is based on the number of people who are worried about what they are going to eat next.

We all understand that we have to save life. We completely embrace the idea to save more lives. However, the lives of many poor people will not be saved if they have no food to keep their immune systems going. The prayer is that our government’s plan to take us out of this will work. A lot of things are already affecting human lives.

It is understandable that we are fighting to save lives. However, the plans to ensure that people who live from hand to mouth have food or basics were questionable if not non-existent until this week.

Jobs and employment ensure that there is sustainability even for the poorest of the poor. However, the same cannot be said about the issuing of food parcels. It is unfortunate that one of the results of the coronavirus is more unemployment.

In the past weeks, we have seen many nonprofit, nongovernment organisations and private companies partnering to hand out food parcels to different communities throughout the nation. We have also seen government officials jumping on the bandwagon to distribute food parcels.

It is something very commendable. Yet, it begs the question, is it really enough?

In some instances, the parcels included 2kg of chicken mixed portions, 2l of cooking oil, 5kg or 10kg of maize meal, a tin of canned fish, and 2kg of sugar. The above is honestly not good enough if a family that is needy is not only going to get them once off. What is going to happen to them a week later?

The above-mentioned parcels cannot even be considered healthy. Also, the poor are not put in a position to choose what they want to eat.They just have to accept whatever they are offered. There is no consideration of allergies or preference. Is this perhaps the case of the proverbial “beggars cannot be choosers?”

Is it about ticking the boxes for corporate social responsibility for the private business and ticket a box for ‘giving back’ for NGOs and NPOs? It is commendable work that these partnerships are doing. Nevertheless, without a sustainable plan to see to it that the very families have food for a longer period, all this remains a good PR exercise that is not dealing with the bigger problem of possible starvation that may lead to crimes.

For instance, we need to find a way to see what each family needs and come up with a way that will ensure that we feed the needy for as long as they are going to be in need of these basics.

Food parcels are a good gesture, but their lack of sustainability proves how ineffective they can be.

Kabelo Chabalala is the founder and chairperson of the Young Men Movement (YMM), an organisation that focuses on the reconstruction of the socialisation of boys to create a new cohort of men. Email, kabelo03chabalala@gmail.com; Twitter, @KabeloJay; Facebook, Kabelo Chabalala

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