Over the last 18 years, the Joburg Market food hub has served thousands of weekly beneficiaries, distributing approximately 40,000 vegetable parcels per month.
Johannesburg, South Africa (11 January 2023) – The City’s food hub at Joburg Market in City Deep provides immediate relief to thousands of food-insecure communities, assisting in the eradication of hunger among Johannesburg’s most vulnerable residents while improving food security.
The hub is intended to assist vulnerable people in gaining access to the nutritious food they require to live healthy, active lives, and to reduce food waste by redirecting surplus or unsold food to those in need.
“Our aim as the Joburg Market food hub is to ensure our communities access their basic needs, especially food. Fulfilling this objective prevents children from missing school because of hunger,” says Donny Phakwayo, the Director of the Food Resilient Unit in the Department of Social Development.
Over the last 18 years, the Joburg Market food hub has served thousands of weekly beneficiaries, distributing approximately 40,000 vegetable parcels per month (between Thursday and Friday) to a network of non-profit community agencies such as soup kitchens, orphanages, homeless shelters, poverty-stricken creches, disability centres, schools, old-age homes, and indigent families unable to cover funeral costs. The food hub also offers emergency food assistance to families in need.
The food is delivered directly to people in need by the hub’s partner agencies, who either serve meals at their facilities or give people bags or boxes of food to take home.
“We mostly distribute food that has a high nutritional value, also depending on what is in season. Our current food parcel consists of 7 types of vegetables, including cabbage, butternut, potatoes, onions, beetroot, carrots, and green beans,” says Simon Motsusi, sub-unit head for the food value chain within the Food Resilient Unit.
According to Mordor Intelligence, a market research firm, food demand is expected to double by 2035. Motsusi says the food hub does more than just provide food parcels; it also teaches its beneficiaries farming skills. Some of the recipients have transformed their backyards into vegetable gardens, which they harvest at their leisure.
“As a result of the economy’s contraction, we face social challenges. The number of people who have benefited from this initiative has grown over time, and we may no longer be able to provide this level of assistance. That is why we teach people how to start their own gardens and grow their own food,” he explains.
To fulfil its mandate, the Joburg Market food hub relies on donors and typically obtains food from a variety of sources who give generously, such as donations from farmers, market agents, exporters, and retailers. Before being distributed to those in need, the food is stored in a pantry in City Deep.
The market’s food technicians determine which of the donated foods are fit for human consumption before they are distributed. As a result, all products donated must undergo a quality assurance inspection to ensure they are safe.
Every week, the food hub retrieves foodstuffs marked as unclaimed and unaccounted-for on the market floor by security. It also spends its allocated budget on fresh produce for NGOs and low-income households, thus meeting donors halfway.
The food hub also receives a significant portion of its donations from agents, who typically have excess food that they are unable to sell in the normal course of business.
Phakwayo says the Joburg Market food hub does not deal directly with individuals but with registered non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which then hand over the food parcels from the market to communities identified as vulnerable.
To be eligible for food grants, NGOs need to meet certain requirements, including having a professional profile, a non-profit organisation certificate, and having completed a registration form from the Joburg Market food hub.
The City’s food hub also collaborates with local and international NGOs, including Gift of the Givers, United Ways South Africa, and Feed Foundation, to name a few.
“We also consider referrals from community leaders, but the referred people must undergo a process of assessing whether they qualify to benefit from this initiative,” Motsusi says.
The Joburg Market food hub is affiliated with the Perishable Products Export Control Board (PPECB), the Personal Managers Association (PMA), the South African Union of Food Markets (SAUFM), and the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) testing laboratory. These entities work together to collect, sort, and review food for quality before allocating it to beneficiaries.
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