KAROO NEWS - The DA Shadow MEC for Social Development in the Eastern Cape, Kobus Botha, recently released a statement regarding malnutrition in the Eastern Cape (EC) and the discontinuation of the Department of Social Development's (DSD) food grants. (See Graaff-Reinet Advertiser article of 10 August, Mother kills starving children).
Botha said that the Eastern Cape government does not care about the children of this province, and nowhere is it more evident than in the DSD.
At a time when the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) declared child malnutrition in the province as a disaster, DSD has opted to cut back on spending on food parcels.
"The SAHRC lambasted the provincial government in a recently released report, stating that the state's failure to ensure access to adequate food and nutrition directly contributes to preventable loss of life among children in the EC, constituting a violation of their right to life," he declared during an interview with the Advertiser.
In his report he highlighted that the EC faces an unprecedented and dire situation, with data revealing an alarming 27% stunting rate among children in the province.
He quoted the SAHRC saying that 116 children succumbed to Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) between April 2021 and April 2022, and an astonishing 1 087 children suffered from malnutrition in the same period.
"Social Development MEC Bukiwe Fanta's response to a parliamentary question from the Democratic Alliance revealed that her department has opted to cut back on food parcels significantly, cutting the budget allocation for food parcels from R6,1m to R5,2m for the 2023/2024 financial year," said Botha.
This cut translates to roughly 1 200 families who will now not receive any assistance in terms of food parcels.
Botha stated that DSD has gone from distributing 29 573 parcels in 2021/2022 to delivering just 2 294 the following year and just 929 parcels so far in the current financial year.
Between 2019/2020 and 2023/2024, a total of 105 food gardens were established in the province, of which 29 have failed," Botha said. "Children in the EC are literally starving to death. The Child Grant has not kept pace with inflation."
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