Press Release: Statement from the
National Coordinating Committee Meeting, 5-6 November 2015
9 November 2015
The first meeting since the mandate of the
National Coordinating Committee of the South African Food Sovereignty Campaign
(SAFSC) was renewed at the SAFSC Assembly, took place in Johannesburg on 5-6
November 2015. Aimed at planning the campaign programme for 2015, the meeting
occurred at the end of a successful year of local and national campaigning,
which included:
·
Launching
the campaign at an Assembly with over 50 organisations in February of 2015;
·
Holding
a People’s Tribunal on Hunger, Food Prices and Landlessness in which the state
and food corporations were put on trial for their roles in producing the hunger
crisis, through the voices of the hungry and landless themselves;
·
Two
activist schools in which capacities of activists to drive campaign building in
and across their communities was enhanced;
·
Localised
campaign building through local training, initiation of agroecological production,
exchange visits, education, forum building; and much more.
The NCC meeting occurred after a moment of
intense struggle by the rising student movement. The NCC acknowledged the historical role of
students in their crucial struggle for the right to education. The NCC hence
confirmed the SAFSC’s solidarity with the student movement and noted that this
could be the beginning of a significant independent student movement, and even
broader social movement, that rolls back the commercialisation of universities
and builds broader solidarity amongst social struggles. Furthermore, it was
noted that the student protests cannot be divorced from the overarching scourge
of hunger experienced on university campuses and the widespread hunger that
plagues the communities that many of these university students come from, which
is underpinned by rising food prices. Thus the conditions of poverty that
undermine student’s access to education also links to hunger at universities
and in communities. In this regard, the SAFSC sees the potential for solidarity
with students in fighting high food prices, high education costs and for
insourcing of workers.
The urgeny of the need for
concrete alternatives in our food system and society, in the context of climate
change, is only emphasised by the severe drought that has plagued many parts of
South Africa and which will continue over the next few months. This drought is
a window into the future, with extreme weather events set to increase as a
result of climate change. 500 000 people in KwaZulu-Natal alone will be added
to the ranks of the hungry due to the ongoing drought in that province. The
South African government’s response falls short, not only in terms of immediate
relief, but also in terms of making the just transition to curb our
contributions to climate change and to build a sustainable agricultural system
through agrarian reform and support to small farmers. Climate change is
worsening and science demands drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, yet the
SAFSC has little faith that governments will agree to the needed cuts at the
upcoming COP21 in Paris, due largely to the power of the fossil fuel lobby and
corporations that currently profit from climate change-causing activities. Industrial
agriculture itself is a key contributor to climate change and simply will not
be able to cope with the impacts of climate change. Currently large commercial
farmers receive over 60% of water allocations, while small scale farmers are
being hit hardest by the drought. We therefore believe in struggle by small
farmers to ensure that their rights to water are secured. Furthermore, the
SAFSC will intensify its focus on building capacity in, and spreading practices
that, if implemented across the food system, would shift it towards
ecologically sustainable production and enhance the ability of communities to
cope with the now unavoidable impacts of climate change.
Campaigning Focus for 2016
The SAFSC Assembly held in
October 2015 affirmed the potential power of the campaign and agreed on a
number of issues to campaign on in 2016. Based on this, the NCC further fleshed
out a programme of action on four key campaigning areas.
Firstly, we will campaign
against the increasing diffusion of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in
South Africa. GMOs increase the power of a few seed corporations over our food
systems, and are grounded in an industrial model of agriculture that requires
homogenisation and constant use of pesticides and herbicides. In the context of
environmental degradation and climate change, this is simply not an option.
Instead we need to focus on real solutions, like agrocoecology and strengthening
of local seed systems. Together with GMOs, we will also be campaigning against
the associated increasing use of the herbicide glyphosate, which the World
Health Organisation (WHO) has recently declared as carcinogenic to humans. We
will build on the strength of a network of organisations in the SAFSC who will
lead the fight in this regard. Our activism on this issue will commence with a
national petition against the use of the poison glyphosate in our food system.
Secondly, we will mobilise directly
around the issue of climate change and food, with a focus on building
alternatives like sustainable water use, renewable energy, seed banking and
agroecology that shift us towards sustainable production practices and build
the power of small farmers and communities in the food system. In the context
of the drought ravaging the country we call on small scale farmers to assist us
document the devastation and government failures. We are offering a phone-in
hotline at the Cooperative and Policy Alternative Centre to report your
situation. Call us on 011 447 1013. We will use your testimony on the impacts
of the drought to challenge government to be more responsive to small scale
farmers.We will also champion a process to develop a Food Sovereignty Act, through a democratic,
bottom-up process that culminates at a People’s
Parliament in 2016.
Third, globally small scale
farmers produce up to 70% of the world’s food. In South Africa there are up to
2 million small scale farmers, mostly situated in the former homelands, who
could be playing much greater roles in producing food for South Africa yet
receive poor government support, despite policies and budgets destined for
this. The government is working to set up AgriParks, but these are plagued by
corruption, favour corporate entities, and are excluding many small scale
farmers. We will therefore conduct research on the experiences of small scale
farmers with regard to corruption and lack of support, and advance demands for broader
agrarian reform and support to small scale farmers, as we also mobilise small
scale farmers to demand government support during the drought.
Fourth, due to a number of
factors, including the current drought, food prices in South Africa will
continue to rise, beyond their existing high levels. This will continue to hit
the poor hardest, while corporate retailers will continue to profit from rising
prices; essentially, they will continue to profit from hunger. In this regard,
we note and applaud the recent #BreadPricesMustFall activity of occupying a
Shoprite store in Khayelitsha. We believe these sorts of non-violent, decentralised
activities should multiply and continue in the struggle to highlight the
profiteering by food processors and retailers, the hunger of millions of South
Africans and the low wages of food retail and manufacturing workers, in
contrast to the astronomical incomes of food corporation executives. We
therefore will campaign on the basis that #FoodPricesMustFall, and call for
occupations through human chains surrounding supermarkets, sit-ins, till
jamming and the like, peaceful activities that will aim to challenge
profiteering in the food system. The moment of occupying the corporate
controlled food system has arrived. We have the collective power to ensure that
#FoodPricesMustFall!
The NCC meeting further
consolidated key aspects of campaign organising, including national and local
organising, and social media. It was collectively affirmed that the SAFSC is a
crucial campaign in South Africa, with growing interest and excitement, and
that 2016 will see a year of explosive and expansive national organising as we
intensify our campaigning and campaign building work. We invite all progressive
organisations, movements and individuals to find out more about the campaign
and to get involved in advancing the campaign!
ENDS
For further comment, please contact:
Brand: 078 628 1362
Imraahn: 084 781 7122
Davine: 071 592 2361
Andrew: 072 278 4315
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