South Africa is facing a growing burden of hypertension and other non-communicable diseases, Ahead of World Hypertension Day, HEALA is calling for stronger food labelling policies, including clear and effective front-of-pack warning labels, to help consumers make informed choices and reduce excessive salt consumption.
Hypertension, commonly known as high blood pressure, remains one of the leading risk factors for heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and premature death in South Africa. Despite ongoing public awareness campaigns, many consumers still struggle to identify foods high in salt, sugar, and unhealthy fats due to complicated nutrition labels and misleading marketing on packaged foods.
Front-of-pack warning labels offer a practical, evidence-based solution. By placing simple to read, highly visible warnings on products that contain excessive levels of nutrients linked to poor health outcomes, such as sodium, these labels empower consumers to make healthier choices quickly and confidently.
South Africa has already demonstrated leadership in public health through progressive policies such as salt reduction regulations. In 2023 government released for public comment the R3777 Regulations Relating to the Labelling And Advertising of Food Stuff, in acknowledgement of the fact that stronger consumer information tools are needed to improve the overall health of South Africans, particularly as processed and ultra-processed foods become more common in household diets.
Three years later the regulations have yet to be implemented.
Research from countries like Chile, that have implemented front-of-pack warning labels shows that these measures can influence purchasing decisions, encourage manufacturers to reformulate products, and improve public understanding of nutrition risks.
South Africa has low nutrition label literacy. A 2011 study in the North West reported that “respondents did not always understand how to use the information on food labels in order to make informed food choices. When scientists quizzed study participants on how well they understood labels, test scores revealed that even frequent readers did not always understand how to use labels to make better food choices.
For South Africa where hypertension affects millions of adults and increasingly impacts younger populations pack warning labels represent an important opportunity to strengthen prevention efforts, reduce healthcare costs, and protect future generations.
HEALA is urging policymakers to ratify mandatory front-of-pack warning labels as part of a comprehensive strategy to combat hypertension and improve nutrition across the country.
South Africans have a right to know what is in their food. Clear warning labels are not just about information they are about prevention, empowerment, and saving lives.
Johannesburg, South Africa, 23 January. With Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana set to deliver his Budget Vote on 25 February, civil society organisations — the Healthy Living Alliance (HEALA), Grow Great (GG), Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), and other members of the Food Justice Coalition (FJC) reiterate strong support for South Africa’s Health Promotion Levy (HPL), emphasising that the levy is a proven human rights-based policy tool that protects lives, reduces inequality, and advances the constitutional right of access to health care services.
As pressure mounts from industry groups to weaken or repeal the HPL, we warn that rolling back the levy would undermine progress in addressing hunger, diet-related disease and the growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which disproportionately affect low-income communities.
Non-communicable diseases account for approximately 51% of all deaths in South Africa, with diabetes now the second leading natural cause of death nationally (Stats SA). Oral diseases continue to contribute to significant global and national morbidity and disability, with over 3.7 billion people impacted globally. Nationally, 1 in 4 (27.9%), people aged 5 years and above experienced untreated dental decay and 24.5% of persons over the age of 15 experienced severe gum diseases (leading to preventable and premature tooth loss) both of these disease having a significant, but often overlooked impact on health and quality of life. Excess body weight affects around 68% of women and 31% of men in South Africa, while childhood overweight and obesity rates are among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.
The HPL Is Not Harmful to Poor Households
“Framing the Health Promotion Levy as harmful to poor households is not only misleading, but deeply cynical,” said Nzama Mbalati, CEO at HEALA. “Low-income communities already pay the highest price for unhealthy food environments through preventable illness, lost income and avoidable deaths.”
Since its introduction in 2018 at a rate of 11% (2.1 cents per gram of sugar above 4g/100ml), peer-reviewed research has shown that the HPL led to a 29% reduction in sugar purchased from taxable beverages among lower-income households, alongside significant product reformulation by manufacturers.
From a revenue perspective, the HPL has generated approximately R2 billion per year in its early years of implementation. If increased to 20% in line with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, revenue could increase substantially while maximising public health impact. WHO recommends that sugary drink taxes raise retail prices by at least 20% to meaningfully reduce consumption.
Moreover, the potential to earmark HPL revenue for health promotion, nutrition programmes and food security interventions offers a direct opportunity to support vulnerable communities” says Mbalati.
A Rights-Based Response to an Unjust Food System
South Africa faces a dual crisis of hunger and obesity, driven by a food system that makes ultra-processed, sugary products cheap and widely available while healthier options remain unaffordable for many households.
Recent national data indicates that one in four South African children under five experiences stunting, while at the same time sugary beverage consumption remains high, particularly among adolescents. Excessive sugar intake is a major contributor to diabetes, dental decay, heart disease and stroke, conditions that place immense strain on families and the public health system. The International Diabetes Federation estimates that over 4.2 million adults in South Africa are living with diabetes, with many more undiagnosed. Diabetes-related complications significantly increase public healthcare expenditure and reduce household income due to disability and premature mortality.
Public health evidence, including local studies evaluating the HPL, shows that the levy has shifted consumer purchasing behaviour toward beverages with less sugar and incentivised industry reformulation without the large-scale job losses predicted by industry opponents.
Supporting Farmers Through Just Transition
We note with concern that local farmers are affected by uncertainty in the global sugar industry. The supply chain faces high production costs, shrinking markets and changing consumer behaviour.
For long-term sustainability, government and farmers must work collaboratively to pivot away from sugar dependency through a just transition framework.
One promising approach involves creating opportunities for farmers to supply affordable, nutritious produce to Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres nationwide. Government-facilitated farmer-ECD partnerships would support farmer livelihoods while improving child nutrition outcomes.
Debunking the “Tax on the Poor” Narrative
HEALA and Union Against Hunger stress that the claim that the HPL unfairly targets poor households ignores the lived reality of diet-related disease.
Lower-income communities experience disproportionately high rates of obesity and diabetes, yet face reduced access to preventative healthcare and early screening services. Evidence shows that lower-income households also benefit most from reductions in sugary beverage consumption following price increases.
“The real injustice is allowing an aggressive sugary drinks market to continue targeting children and low-income communities with impunity,” added Tendai Mafuma, Senior Legal Researcher at SECTION27. “Weakening the HPL would be a direct betrayal of the government’s constitutional obligations.”
A Call to Protect and Strengthen the HPL
We call on National Treasury and policymakers to:
Reject industry-driven attempts to weaken or repeal the Health Promotion Levy.
Increase the levy in line with global best practice to maximise health impact (minimum 20% price increase as recommended by WHO).
Commit to investing HPL revenue in health promotion, nutrition and food security programmes.
Place food justice and human rights at the centre of fiscal and health policy decision-making.
“At a time of rising hunger, inequality and preventable disease, South Africa cannot afford policy capture by vested interests,” says Dr. Edzani Mphaphuli, Executive Director at Grow Great .“The Health Promotion Levy is not the problem , it is part of the solution.”
ENDS
For media enquiries and Interviews, please contact:
The Health Promotion Levy was introduced in April 2018.
The levy taxes sugary beverages containing more than 4g of sugar per 100ml.
Non-communicable diseases account for approximately 51% of deaths in South Africa.
Diabetes is the second leading natural cause of death nationally.
Peer-reviewed research shows a 29% reduction in sugar purchased from taxable beverages among lower-income households after implementation.
WHO recommends sugary drink taxes increase prices by at least 20% to achieve optimal public health impact.
The HPL allocation to the NDoH has remained largely unspent for the past 10 years. For the 2025/2026 fiscal year, only R15 million of the allocated R52 million has been earmarked, and this for a limited number of organisations — namely Park Run, the National Organ Donation Foundation, the National Cancer Registry, and the Knowledge Translation Unit (KTU) at UCT.
A new investigation by Swiss NGO Public Eye has exposed how global food giant Nestlé is adding sugar to baby cereals sold in South Africa, while selling sugar-free versions of the same products in Europe. This follows the scandal that broke earlier in the year where it was revealed that Nestle has a pattern of selling sugary baby food in lower-income countries, while reserving healthier product formulation for richer counterparts.
Laboratory tests of Nestlé’s Cerelac range found that 90% of products sold across Africa contain added sugar. In South Africa, 3 in 4 Cerelac products tested included added sugar, averaging 4.9 grams per serving — more than a teaspoon — in products marketed for babies as young as six months. Some variants contained as much as 5.2 grams per serving. Equivalent products in Germany and the United Kingdom contain none.
“This is corporate hypocrisy at its worst,” said Nzama Mbalati CEO for the Healthy Living Alliance (HEALA). “Nestlé knows full well that added sugar harms infants, yet continues to dump sugary products on African babies. It’s a blatant double standard that treats African children’s health as less important.”
The World Health Organization explicitly warns that baby foods should contain no added sugar, as early exposure increases the risk of obesity, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases later in life. South Africa already faces one of the world’s highest childhood obesity rates — a crisis fuelled by aggressive marketing of ultra-processed foods.
“South Africa has experienced a dramatic surge in overweight and obesity in children under five,” says Lori Lake, Communication and Education Specialist at the Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town.
Lake adds that rates nearly doubled from 13% in 2016 to 22% in 2022 – with one in four young children now overweight or obese – and this is more than four times higher than the global average.
“So, we need to ask ourselves, if Nestle is really committed to optimal health and nutrition, then why are they continuing to add extra sugar to their infant cereal – and to what extent are they helping to fuel an epidemic of non-communicable disease in South Africa,” she explains.
According to Lake adding sugar to infant cereals acts like a gateway drug, helping establish a lifelong preference for sugary foods that then increases the risk of obesity, diabetes and other NCDs later in life. So, while sugar is sweet – it can leave a bitter aftertaste. She adds that multinational food corporations stand to profit, but it is South Africa’s children and families – and health care system – who will have to carry the costs – which further entrenches inequalities.
Despite acknowledging on its own South African website that high sugar intake poses serious health risks for children, Nestlé continues to promote Cerelac as a “nutritious” and “balanced” product. The company also pays local influencers to endorse Cerelac online, blurring the line between advertising and trusted nutrition advice.
We call on Nestlé South Africa and the National Department of Health to take immediate action: remove added sugar from all baby and toddler foods; enforce strong, mandatory front-of-package warning labels; and introduce strict regulations to stop misleading marketing practices targeting parents and caregivers.
Ends.
For media enquiries please contact:
Lori Lake: Communication and Education Specialist at the Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town.
lori.lake@uct.ac.za | 0825580446
Dorothy Breslin: Senior Communications Organiser at Groundwork
International law recognises every human being’s right to adequate food. Our own constitution states that “everyone has the right to have access to sufficient food and water”. Despite this, our country is grappling with serious issues of hunger. A 2023 report by Stats SA estimates that 3.7-million households had some form of food insecurity. Of this, about 1.5-million households had severe food insecurity. It is wrong that this is happening in a country that with a strong farming industry is considered food secure.
Over half a million South African families with children under five years old have to deal with hunger every day. This means that a quarter of our children are stunted, which is a sign of long-term malnutrition. One of the primary drivers of stunting is the lack of food that’s high in nutrients to support the growth of young bodies.
Researchers have long warned of the consequences of the rapidly occurring nutritional transition, where we no longer eat like our grandparents. We now buy cheaper, more filling, processed foods that have a lot of salt, sugar, and fat.
Since the inception in 2018 of the health promotion levy (HPL), a tax on sugar, people have been drinking less sugary drinks. The HPL has, in turn, generated billions in state revenue. HEALA and its partners have been calling for our government to use the funds generated for lifesaving interventions
This article was published on Elitsha on the 25th of Ocober 2025. Click Here to read the entire piece.
HEALA is studying the decision by the Advertising Appeal Committee. It is important to note that the Committee does not state that our campaign advert is misleading due to warning the public against the harms of fizzy drinks and fruit juice, and expressly provided that it would not be misleading to warn against the consumption of “excessive sugary drinks” or “regular consumption of sugary drinks”.
The Committee also cites the World Health Organisation in this analysis, indicating even “a single serving (at least 250 ml) of commonly consumed sugary drinks per day”is to be avoided for health reasons. For a full synthesis on the harms of sodas and fruit juice, we direct interested persons to HEALA.org, where we provide an easy-to-read summary of the most up-to-date science as co-developed by several world-leading nutritionists, medical doctors, and public health specialists.
We would like to thank the Advertising Appeal Committee for its express recognition and commendation for the work that HEALA does to further the interests of public health.
As civil society organisations committed to food justice, children’s health and education rights, we are alarmed by the recent handover of McDonald’s-branded ‘Mi Desk’ desks to two Cape Town schools, facilitated by the Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube. This follows similar corporate-branded desk donations from Old Mutual and Hollywood Bets. We are concerned about this disturbing trend, which must end now.
The McDonald’s donation of desks to schools should not be seen as charity. It is junk food marketing targeting vulnerable children. At a time when South Africa faces a compounding crisis of malnutrition, obesity, and a non-communicable disease epidemic, allowing fast food branding into schools is grossly irresponsible and negligent. The Department of Basic Education (DBE) should be safeguarding children’s health, not exposing them to the marketing of high-fat, sugar, and salt (HFSS) foods under the guise of corporate donations. Additionally, McDonald’s is using the bodies of children as unpaid, walking billboards for the junk food market. By slapping its logo on the MiDesk, it ensures that its brand is paraded through communities, at no cost, while profiting from the very eating habits that harm children’s health.
“Minister Gwarube’s decisions cannot be a compromise between private interests and protecting our children from harmful advertising. Her responsibility is to serve the public and the constitution, which means keeping private interests in check and ensuring big businesses don’t profit at the expense of our children,” says Palesa Ramolefo, of Amandla.mobi.
Over the past 20 years, we have seen South African markets flooded by fast and ultra-processed foods. Foods high in sugar, salt and fat, and low in nutrients are helping to fuel the obesity epidemic – with nearly one in every four children under five now either overweight or obese. Sophisticated marketing campaigns tap into children’s deepest desires and longing for love, family, friendship and belonging, while relatively low prices make fast foods even more desirable amidst widespread poverty and deepening inequality. These branded desks are a form of advertising for McDonald’s. They instrumentalise children as consumers of unhealthy food, and contribute to normalising the routine consumption of fast food.
“The DBE should be intensifying its efforts to enhance the school nutrition programme, not helping to further socialise young children into the consumption of health-devastating foods. These foods jeopardise the physical, mental and emotional performance of children, and thereby their futures” says Zukiswa Zimela of Healthy Living Alliance (HEALA).
In its updated guidelines on policies to protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing released in 2023, the World Health Organization notes that children’s rights, including their right to health, their access to safe and nutritious food, and their right to be free from exploitation, are undermined by the marketing of HFSS foods – the category into which McDonalds’ food falls. As such, countries that are party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, like South Africa, have a legal duty to ensure that these rights are protected and fulfilled and that business respects them.
It cannot be said that our government is adequately performing this duty if the DBE actively supports the direct marketing of McDonald’s food to children. This incident demonstrates that the South African government urgently needs to finalise regulations and develop legislation to restrict the marketing of unhealthy food in general, and to children in particular, aswas done by other countries globally including Canada (Quebec), Norway, Iran, United Kingdom, Chile, Mexico, Ireland, Argentina, Portugal, South Korea, Taiwan, Brazil, Spain, and Sweden.
Why are corporations donating school furniture? McDonald’s branded desk donation illustrates the dangers of austerity and the consequent cuts to the education budget – it incentivises corporate actors to encroach into spaces abandoned by the state. It is no coincidence that the ‘beneficiaries’ of these desks are black children in rural and working-class communities. Gaps opened up by deliberate disinvestment are then given a band-aid by corporate ‘philanthropy’. But this is not generosity – it is branding, which also further promotes unhealthy behaviours in children, like gambling in thecase of Hollywood Bets-branded desks. Such corporate actors are turning classrooms into advertising spaces and the children who carry the desks when folded into bulky bags into walking advertisements while distracting from the structural failures of the government to fulfil its constitutional duties.
This is the flipside of austerity in public education. Corporate charity is not a substitute for government responsibility. The only sustainable solution is for the National Treasury to properly fund education, and ensure that every child has access to dignified learning conditions without strings attached.
We call for immediate action:
The Minister and Department of Basic Education must immediately withdraw support for the branded MiDesk donation, recall the branded desks, ensure that the provincial education department supplies desks to the school as per its mandate, and desist from any such partnerships with Big Food and the gambling industry in the future;
The Minister must issue a public explanation of the contents and mechanics of these branded partnerships in terms of the concerns we have raised, and actively engage with us as concerned civil society organisations on this matter;
The South African government should urgently finalise the draft regulations R3337 on the Labelling and Advertising of Foodstuffs, and the Audio and Audio Visual Content Services White Paper both of which include provisions to protect children from the marketing of foods that are harmful to health. In addition, Regulation R3337 needs to be strengthened to prohibit the marketing of fast and ultra-processed foods in child-centred settings such as schools and early learning programmes;
The government must strengthen regulations around corporate social investments to ensure that they areethical, transparent, and not transactional. Ethical corporate support should strengthen and be subordinate to, not substitute, the state’s obligations to learners.
DBE should desist from selling children a sick future. Schools should be safe spaces that protect children from the marketing of products that are harmful to their health, not open markets for corporate exploitation and expansion.
Erratum: Clarification on Hollywood Foundation Branded Desk Donation
In the original version of this joint civil society statement, we attributed some of the branded desks mentioned to Hollywood Bets. We acknowledge that the donation was made by the Hollywood Foundation, which is linked to and funded by Hollywood Bets. While we have corrected this attribution, we maintain that the distinction is immaterial.
The Hollywood Foundation and Hollywood Bets share near-identical branding, making the desks effectively a promotional tool for a gambling-linked entity. Whether through direct or indirect means, branding associated with gambling remains inappropriate for school resources. Schools should be safe learning environments, free from corporate influence that normalises industries with known social harms.
Our call for the Department of Basic Education to reject corporate branding in schools remains unchanged. We urge immediate action to prevent further commercial exploitation of children in educational spaces.
African civil society organisations launch report on how the Sugar Industry blocks vital public health policies for Healthier Societies
African civil society organisations working to promote and defend sugar-sweetened beverage taxes in Cameroon, Nigeria, and South Africa have, today, jointly released the report, “Sweetened Profits: The Industry’s Playbook to Fight Sweetened Beverage Taxes,” exposing the beverage industry’s Global campaign to oppose taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs).
The report, first unveiled in September 2024 by the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI), is being re-presented regionally to highlight efforts by the Sweetened Beverage industry to weaken governments’ efforts to adopt this important public health intervention on the continent, and as part of activities for the Global Week for Action on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) from 14 – 21 October.
GHAI’s comprehensive analysis demonstrates how the beverage industry, also called Big Soda, uses a global playbook of strategies to thwart government efforts to reduce the consumption of sugary drinks, a known driver of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and other serious health problems. These tactics undermine public health initiatives while also negatively impacting environmental sustainability.
It comes just as African nations are grappling with soaring rates of diet-related non-communicable diseases, with organisations including RADA in Cameroon, pushing for a sweetened beverage and UPP tax, while CAPPA in Nigeria and the Healthy Living Alliance (HEALA) in South Africa continue to protect the existing tax and call for government to strengthen it to reach its public health objective.
“While the global community is working towards creating healthier populations, Big Soda is using its influence to derail policies that could save millions of lives and billions in healthcare costs,” said Verónica Schoj, Vice President, Food and Nutrition, GHAI.
“Our report reveals the depth and breadth of the industry’s efforts to protect its profits at the expense of public health.”
Through exhaustive monitoring and analysis, GHAI identified five strategies employed by Big Soda to obstruct SB taxes across more than 25 countries. These include:
1. Economic Alarmism: As seen in Nigeria and Pakistan, economic arguments are employed to suggest that SB taxes would lead to job losses and economic downturns.
2. Exploiting Social Concerns: Efforts in Indonesia show how the industry uses corporate social responsibility to overshadow their products’ negative health impacts.
3. Manipulating Tax Designs: Instances such as in Vietnam, where industry bodies have pushed to exclude certain drinks from taxation.
4. Mounting Legal Challenges: Examples from Colombia and Spain highlight how legal threats and challenges are used to intimidate governments and contest the legality of SB taxes.
5. Discrediting Scientific Evidence: Tactics observed in Guam and China where industry-funded research is leveraged to question the effectiveness of SB taxes.
“In Nigeria, beverage companies continue to exploit false narratives and inaccurate health claims with disregard for the health of the people,” said Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director, [CAPPA]. “Their approach does not only show their focus on profit but reinforces the alarming way they mislead the public and interfere in policy processes,” he concluded.
In Cameroon, industry is highly involved in sports and donation of hospital related equipment and facilities. “These masks the negative impact of the source of the financing for their philanthropy” said Ferdinant M. Sonyuy, the President/CEO of RADA, in Cameroon.
In South Africa, “the sugar industry uses the same playbook tactics employed by the tobacco, alcohol, gambling, and ultra-processed food industries, which are often a barrier to the implementation of public health policies. These come at a high cost for ordinary citizens who carry the burden of ill health,” said Nzama Mbalati, the CEO of HEALA
The GHAI report calls on policymakers, civil society and health advocates to anticipate and counter these tactics with robust, evidence-based SB tax designs that prioritise health over industry profits.
The issues, challenges and opportunities of South Africa’s National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) came under the spotlight as researchers, experts, activists and policymakers presented their own experiences and insights as part of the Healthy Living Alliance’s (HEALA) two-day Schools Food Environment Assembly Programme which took place at the Anew Hotel on Wednesday and Thursday (October 9 and 10).
This programme highlighted the need for collaborative efforts between various stakeholders to ensure that the more than 9 million beneficiaries of NSNP across 21 000 SA schools realise the full benefits of the country’s government-led NSNP programme.
This is in light of the 2022/2023 report which indicates that the South African government spent just over R8,4 billion during the 2022/23 financial year on its nationwide school feeding scheme.
However, in light of the recent budget cuts, announced by the government, concerns have been raised that these austerity measures will adversely affect the ongoing efforts of ensuring every child receives a healthy and nutritious meal even if it is once a day.
The discussions delved deeper into some of these challenges with the aim of finding practical solutions in spite of a challenging economic environment.
On the first day of the programme, experts from various fields including from advocacy groups, civil society, academia, health, medicine, agriculture, government departments and school governing bodies spent the day in various panel discussions aimed at highlighting the plight of the country’s young people and government’s efforts in addressing poverty levels in our education system.
In his keynote address which kicked off the first day of the conference, Professor Scott Drimmie of the Stellenbosch University’s division of human nutrition, department of global health and medicine sciences, revealed that even though the country’s NSNP has moved learners out of poverty, there has been some missed opportunities by government in ensuring that hunger and poverty is eradicated through innovative and cost -effective procurement programmes and sustainable agricultural practices.
“We need to look at what we can do to leverage procurement and how to use this to support and promote agroecology for sustainable livelihoods,” he said.
“There is urgency in finding long-lasting solutions and there are strong arguments being made on key impact areas in our school nutrition programmes. We need to start thinking about the systems and about deliverables,” he further elaborated.
Dr Nomathemba Chindiwana, principal scientist and director at Ezintsha, Mr Gilbert Tshitaudzi, Unicef SA’s nutritionist manager, Ms Palesa Ramolefo food justice campaigner at Amandla.Mobi and Professor Lisanne Du Plesis tackled the first panel discussion titled, “Why and What? Childhood diet in SA” which touched on childhood diet and health in SA, improving children’s food environment as well as the effects of high food prices and marketing in school premises and other key areas affecting children.
The second panel discussion which was led by another group of local and international experts, including Brazilian school nutrition activist, Ms Giorgia Russo, Dr Michelle Brear, Priceless SA, researcher and Black Sash’s National Advocacy Manager, Ms Hoodah Abrahams-Fayker expanded the discourse by tackling the panel titled: “How to impact children’s nutrition” with Hoodah tackling the role of social protection, Dr Brear tackling the impact of outdoor advertising on the psyche and behaviour of children as they grow up and transition into adulthood.
Giorgia gave a compelling comparative breakdown of how the Brazilian model of school nutrition programme compares well with the South African model even though differences in approach could be discerned.
On the second day, she further elaborated on some of the models used by her home country to encourage family farming initiatives which have been legislatively implemented since 1995 as a way to promote child nutrition in schools and communities.
“Brazil has a model that has a process of implementing and promoting nutrition. This model also prioritises school feeding councils who conduct food inspection as a way of monitoring. Under the Family Agriculture National Policy of 1995, Brazil prioritises and supports family farming through Rural Technical Assistance and the Food Procurement Programme (PAA),” she said.
Other experts who took part in panel discussions include, Dr Edzani Mphaphuli of Grow Great, Ms Mavis Ranwedzi, the basic education’s nutritionist programme director, Ms Matshidiso Lencoasa from the Bridget Justice Coalition and Section 27’S Sasha Stevenson as they tackled the discussion themed: The National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) as a key impact space” which looked into issues the history and impact of NSNP, looming budget cuts and perspectives from Early Childhood Development (ECD).
Healthcare workers, food handlers, local farmers, food producers and School Governing Bodies, labour and education researchers brought into sharp focus some of the issues affecting quality nutrition in schools as well as some of the underlying issues affecting procurement of nutritious food items for schools. This multi-layered session was led by Dr Asafika Mbangata from the Rural Association, HEALA CEO, Nzama Mbalati, Western Cape researcher, Professor Rina Swart, Equal Education’s Ms Nontikelelo Dlulani and Dullah Omar Institute’s researcher, Ms Paula Knipe, Ms Nosipho Twala, among others.
Theft of food meant for learners in schools, ensuring safe food storage, procurement of healthy and nutritious foods and challenges faced by food handlers, educators and other role players formed part of the robust engagement of this session.
Following a series of robust and serious engagements, the first day of a two-day programme culminated in a grand gala dinner that not only marked the re-launch of the Healthy Living Alliance (HEALA) but also celebrated an impressive eight years of advocacy for healthier food choices across South Africa.
The auspicious occasion served as an opportunity for guests, partners and other HEALA stakeholders to reflect on the remarkable journey of the organisation, which has fostered awareness and inspired a movement towards nutritional wellbeing in communities nationwide.
As the celebrations winded down, HEALA CEO, Nzama Mbalati quipped: “I have not told my team this, but I think HEALA is a political organisation and not necessarily a political party. It is about political mobilisation and an organisation that wants to change the norms of the current food systems,” he said.
Day two led by facilitators such as Sheldon Petersen and Angelika Grimeek, Dasantha Pillay and Lucilla Blankenberg,Allice Khan and Eunice Montso, Nqabutho Mpofu, Ptronell Kruger, Nzama Mbalati and Sameera Mahomedy was dedicated to intimate breakaway sessions on key thematic issues with the aim of answering questions raised from the issues under discussion in a bid to bring about practical solutions to the NSNP programme.
During the final plenary, group leaders from the five designated groups took to the stage to unveil a host of actionable solutions. Among the most notable proposals was the integration of local agricultural initiatives to bolster food sourcing—an idea that not only seeks to improve meal quality but also aims for sustainability by supporting local farmers.
Among these was the empowerment of young people to be roped in as nutritionist, dietitians, small-scale farmers, the use of technology, social media to ensure whistleblowing and monitoring, data collection, food storage, incentivising local farmers, while also ensuring big food corporations are taxed higher on their unhealthy product in order to fund school nutrition.
There were also calls for the government to change its funding of the NSNP programme in a way that allows food handlers to be paid better salaries, afforded food parcels in order to be afforded dignity and respect that they deserve as one of the vulnerable groups in the NSNP system.
Borrowing from the Brazilian model which prioritises food councils and monitoring and evaluation system, and employment of nutritionists, the groups reported that this model could also benefit South Africa and about the much-needed change in South Africa’s youth unemployment and lack of adequate nutrition challenges.
Reflecting on the two-day programme, Nzama Mbalati indicated that the country’s flagship government programme, NSNP which has noble intentions to meet its objectives needed due to high numbers of NCDs, including wasting, stunting, obesity, malnutrition and undernutrition among South African children.
“The reason we called the two-day convention is threefold. It is in light of high rising reports of stunting at 29%, obesity which affected one in eight children. This is actually concerning because food is at the centre of this crisis and unhealthy food is the main driver of this scourge. When we looked at the NSNP programme as a flagship government programme that can assist us to start being intentional about how we can help provide a better food environment for South Africans,” he said.
On the success of the programme, Mbalati remarked: “We were able to bring everyone from academia to government to food handlers, coordinators of NSNP programmes and education communities on the ground and the highlight for me was some of the proposals made in trying to mitigate against the concerning budget cuts. Schools and provinces are already complaining about the budget cuts and there were proposals made in trying to support food handlers in terms of their working conditions.”
Ends.
About HEALA: HEALA is a coalition of civil society organisations advocating for equitable access to affordable, nutritious food in South Africa by building a more just food system.
For media interviews contact: Mr Neo Merafi on 071 359 9738 or Neo@maverickbrand.co.za
The South African Constitution clearly states that every child has the right to basic nutrition, shelter, basic health care services, and social services. Yet, South Africa’s public healthcare system is still grappling with a triple burden of malnutrition – undernutrition, overnutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies, a result of our country’s broken food system.
It goes without saying that a healthy and sufficient diet is essential for all – particularly for the adequate growth and development of school-age children. The recent National Food and Nutrition Security Survey found a 13 per cent prevalence of obesity in children under the age of 5, which is double the global average. Undernutrition, in the form of stunting, stood at 27 per cent – with underweight at 6 per cent and wasting at 3 per cent. The above statistics point to a major public health concern and show that learners do not stand a fighting chance against the risk of developing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and some cancers, now and in the future.
The National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP), a government initiative, is a school feeding scheme that provides daily meals to over 9 million learners in underprivileged primary and secondary schools. “The NSNP was established in 1994 with the aim of fighting malnutrition, reducing hunger and thereby improving school attendance. We, at The Healthy Living Alliance (HEALA), view the NSNP as an important and massive opportunity that can be leveraged to improve the school food environment, strengthen health promotion, and improve the health outcomes of learners. This matter will be foremost on the agenda at the Schools Food Environment Assembly, our upcoming two-day conference which falls on South Africa’s National Health and Nutrition Weekthis October,” says HEALA CEO Nzama Mbalati.
About Schools Food Environment Assembly
Convened by HEALA and its partners, the Schools Food Environment Assembly aims to develop a joint actionable plan that mobilises society to monitor and improve the school food environment and health outcomes of all learners utilising the existing NSNP. “This convening will bring together diverse views and vibrant voices from civil society, small-scale farmers and local food producers, schools, United Nations agencies, government, and researchers to chart a way forward for collective efforts to improve the NSNP through a variety of interventions,” explains Mbalati. The interventions will include, but will not be limited to:
The legal framework in the implementation of South Africa’s NSNP; Opportunities and challenges in the implementation of the NSNP, as well asexploring possibilities of scaling and expanding; Utilising the NSNP for the promotion of local and sustainable food systems – connecting local and small-scale food producers to consumers, democratising and decentralising public procurement and expenditure, and strengthening local economies; Limiting the availability of ultra-processed foods/products and incentivising healthy eating in the school environment; and Looking at the main drivers of obesity and malnutrition, and related policy interventions in schools. Details Date: 9 to 10 October 2024 Venue: Anew Hotel OR Tambo, 1 Country Street, Lakefield, Benoni, 1501 (Google Maps) About HEALA: HEALA is a coalition of civil society organisations advocating for equitable access to affordable, nutritious food in South Africa by building a more just food system. For media interviews contact: Mr Neo Merafi on 071 359 9738 or Neo@maverickbrand.co.za Ends.
Food is a fundamental part of our cultural identities. By allowing big food to homogenise our plates we run the risk of finding ourselves losing the rich tapestry of our collective identities. This heritage month, HEALA is highlighting the importance of reclaiming our food sovereignty.
This however, this is near impossible given the proliferation of cheap, addictive ultra-processed food. HEALA is calling on government to use funds from unhealthy food taxes to subsidise healthier alternatives. Since its inception in 2018 the Health Promotion Levy has raised billions for the fiscus. The money can be used to implement health promotion measures such as subsidising healthy food and making it accessible to ordinary South Africans. It is widely excepted that our diets have changed significantly in the last few years.
According to researchers “economic development has displaced traditional dietary patterns and driven a shift in food preferences, resulting in the nutrition transition”. This change in the food environment is synonymous with a proliferation of packaged foods high in sugar, salt and saturated fat, otherwise known as ultra-processed foods and undermines dietary patterns based on minimally and unprocessed food and processed culinary ingredients.
Since the dawn of democracy, experts note that our diets have shifted towards an increase in sugar-sweetened beverages, processed and packaged foods, sweet and savoury snacks, and increased meat consumption. We have moved away from consuming vegetables. These shifts in food consumption are concerning as it leads to more fat, sugar and salt intake and negative impacts on public health.
“We know that half of South Africans are dying from non-communicable disease at the moment, and that Statistics South Africa has already said this is our next looming health crisis,” says Dr Petronell Kruger, Programmes’ Manager at Healthy Living Alliance. This begs the question, why can we take diseases like Covid-19 seriously to the extent of lockdowns, but we don’t see serious government intervention to protect our lives and our cultural heritage.”
