Submission to the South African Human Rights Commission’s National Investigative Hearing into the Right to Food

South Africa is systemically failing its young children by failing to ensure that they receive the nutritious meals they need to grow, develop and thrive.

Early childhood is a critical time in a person’s life, laying a foundation for future flourishing. Historic neglect of the early childhood development (ECD) sector, persistent under-funding and inadequate government support for ECD programmes contributes to a situation where more than one in four children under five suffers from stunting due to chronic malnutrition.

Despite having set aside a budget for an ECD Nutrition Programme in 2024, the national Department of Basic Education (responsible for ECD since April 2022) has yet to launch a pilot to test models of providing nutritious food to ECDs.

Current measures to ensure that young children receive adequate nutrition fall short of being 'reasonable and effective', as required by Constitutional jurisprudence. This amounts to a violation of young children's constitutional rights to basic nutrition, protected by sections 28(1)(c) and 29(1)(a) of the Constitution, and to early childhood development, protected by sections 10 and 11 of the Constitution.