The Ekurhuleni food bank shut its doors on today, almost three months after it opened.
Mayor Mzwandile Masina marked the closure of the food bank with a final food distribution this morning in eMandleni Informal Settlement in Wattville, followed by a webinar at midday.Masina says as the metro, they are very proud of the food bank, which was an initiative they undertook to ease the burden of losses of income residents were faced with during the lockdown period.
We sought not only to do this, but to flatten the curve in order that we save as many lives as possible.?But the decision, correct though it was, had some devastating consequences, one of which was the halting of economic activity.
Donation helps food bank to continue growing
Covid-19 was never just a global health emergency, it is a pandemic that has significant implications for the economy, for governance and for the socio-politicalrealities of our country.
Here in Ekurhuleni, the nerve centre of manufacturing and logistics in sub-Saharan Africa, the impact was especially devastating as many factories had to close, putting thousands of people and hundreds of businesses out of work,? says Masina.
The mayor says the food bank would not have been possible without partnerships with businesses and civil society within and outside the metro.
Not only was the need too great, but the loss of revenue facing the municipality, would have made it impossible to provide basic services and run the food bank at the same time.Masina described the response from organisations and donors as overwhelming.
Ekurhuleni Food Bank received over R7-m worth of donations since April
As of today, 123 organisations/donors have made donations of consumable and non-consumable goods to an estimated value of over R10-million.
This enabled us to provide food parcels to 32 721 distressed households consisting of 163 605 residents ? with an average household consisting of five people, with outliers of three to 15 members in a household.
At the heart of this initiative was to ensure that vulnerable groups would not be left behind and it was for this reason that a sizeable proportion of the food parcels donated were given to a specific sectoral target group that included child-headed households, members of the creative industry, survivors of gender-based violence, hostel dwellers, military veterans, faith-based leaders, members of the LGBTIQA+ community, old-age homes and orphanages, members of the sports fraternity as well as sex workers,” says Masina.
So significant was the food bank that it was used by the South African Women in Dialogue (SAWID) and the United Nations Women (UN Women) as a case study for indigent strategies beyond Covid-19.
“The success of the food bank is anchored on the donations that we received from generous companies and individuals, as well as the volunteers from our communities, who worked extremely hard to ensure that we reach daily targets of almost 1 000 food parcels per day.
“I want to thank all these donors, who are too many to mention, but who stepped up when it was required of them to.
“It is often said that capitalism has no heart, but this initiative demonstrated that the private sector has the capacity to contribute meaningfully to the fashioning of a higher civilisation.
“As the mayor and as a resident of this metro, I am immeasurably grateful,” says Masina.
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