Hungry for Knowledge, Starving for Food

In 2024 alone, nearly 5000 Stellenbosch University (SU) students battled hunger in silence as they waited for their National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) allowances. The 5000 does not include the so called missing middle students that are not covered by NSFAS. This is not unique to SU, it is a national crisis. Students are writing exams and walking into futures they can barely afford, all while battling chronic food insecurity.

On 28 May 2025, the world marked World Hunger Day and yet again South Africa forgot the future of this country – the students. The reality we often ignore is that hunger is not a welfare issue - it is a constitutional and social justice imperative. Treating it as anything less diminishes both our legal obligations and ubuntu (our shared humanity).

Hunger and the Constitution

Section 27(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 ("the Constitution") guarantees everyone the right to have access to sufficient food and water, while section 28(1)(c) adds that every child has the right to basic nutrition. The wording of the two provisions is noteworthy as the former guarantees just sufficient food while the latter guarantees nutrition and Unlike section 27, which is subject to progressive realisation, section 28(1)(c) is immediately realisable and unconditional. The Constitution also obliges the state, under Section 7(2), to respect, protect, promote and fulfil all rights in the Bill of Rights. In short, hunger is then not just a humanitarian concern - it is a violation of constitutional rights.

The right to food does not stand alone. Constitutional rights are interconnected and interdependent. Thus, the non-realisation of the right to food has implications for the enjoyment of other rights too. In this case the constitutional rights to dignity, education and equality are simultaneously undermined. Given our history of exclusion and deprivation whose shadow is felt still felt today, it is not surprising that student hunger on most campuses follows lines of racialised and gendered inequality affecting students from historically marginalised communities: Black women, persons from rural areas, members of the LGBTQI+ students and refugees who exist at the intersection of compounded social vulnerabilities¹. The effects ripple far beyond the dining hall - affecting concentration, mental health, graduation rates and the ability of students to contribute to our economy.

While hunger-related support systems exist in South Africa - such as the child support grant, the school nutrition programme and the old age grant - students, particularly the so-called "missing middle", are falling through the cracks. These students are not hungry occasionally; they are hungry throughout their academic journey.

International Law: From the ICESCR to General Comment 12

South Africa's obligations extend beyond its borders. In 2015, the country ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). According to General Comment 12, the right to food is not just about survival - it is about access to adequate, acceptable, safe and nutritious food at all times.

Crucially, the comment affirms that the right to food is inseparable from social justice and requires states to adopt appropriate economic, environmental and social policies aimed at eradicating poverty and fulfilling all human rights. The obligation to realise this right must be pursued expeditiously and using the maximum of available resources.

This includes directly providing food when individuals cannot access it themselves or mobilising international support to fill resource gaps. In other words, the state cannot simply refrain from harm, it must act positively to ensure access.

Adherence to these obligations is especially urgent for the vulnerable, especially students who fall through the cracks due to lack of coordinated efforts and social security.

The Reality on Campus: A Hunger That Reflects Deeper Cracks

According to the 2023 General Household Survey, over 23% of South African households experience inadequate or severely inadequate access to food². The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), places food insecurity at over 63% when mild to severe levels are included². What is deeply unsettling in the commissioning and presentation of these statistics is the invisibility of students.

Unbelievably, no comprehensive national study exists on student hunger across South African universities; a gap we confirmed with the Department of Higher Education and Training.

For students, the crisis is more than just statistics - it is existential. Food insecurity compromises academic success, mental health and social belonging. It quietly reproduces the very inequalities higher education purports to disrupt.

Even the National Policy On Food And Nutrition Security has no clear departmental mandate and no binding obligation that centres student hunger as a constitutional issue.

The result? Students resort to skipping meals, sleeping through hunger pangs or surviving on low-nutrient, high-calorie foods - undermining not only their physical health, but their constitutional right to equality too.

Whose Responsibility Is It?

General Comment 12 applies universally - including to students. It is clear from the Comment that the state is the ultimate duty bearer. But here lies the problem: which organ of state is responsible for addressing student hunger?

If we apply the principle of subsidiarity, several layers of responsibility emerge:

• Universities, as the first line of engagement, have a duty to do no harm - such as avoiding late NSFAS payments - and to provide a minimum enabling environment.
• Local and provincial governments should play a protective and coordinating role.
• National government, through its legislative and fiscal powers, must ensure systemic support is in place.

This lexical order of duties, grounded in both international law and constitutional principles, is critical for determining accountability. But the lacuna around student hunger leaves this question unanswered.

A Roadmap for Systemic Change: Shared Responsibility

At the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), we believe that hunger is not an individual failure - it is a systemic injustice rooted in poverty, policy incoherence and social exclusion. The Musa Plan for Social Justice (Musa Plan) offers a roadmap grounded in collective accountability, emphasising the roles of:

• The state as a respecter, protector and promoter of the right to access adequate food;
• Universities as duty bearers who must institutionalise access to food access and create supportive environments that reduce stigma around assistance;
• The private sector as co-creators of economic justice, especially around food pricing/ profiteering and access/ distribution inequities;
• Civil society and students as innovators, watchdogs and advocates

This approach moves beyond the debate of food distribution as charity case to a rights-based theory, a shared ethical and structural response - one that ensures no student is left to battle hunger alone.

What Must Be Done

With the National Food and Nutrition Security Plan (2024–2029) under development, South Africa has a pivotal chance to institutionalise access to adequate food for students. Key actions include:

• Educating students on their right to food so they can claim and not beg for it;
• Passing legislation on the right to food, in line with General Comment 12 and existing Constitutional obligations.
• Applying CSJ's Social Justice Impact Assessment Matrix (SIAM) to all policies affecting students to ensure that no policy exacerbates inequality ;
• Expanding targeted social protection, including a Universal Basic Income Grant, campus-based feeding schemes and digital infrastructure for redistributing surplus food.
• Forming food security partnerships that link Student Representative Councils with local food vendors and national food retailers.

These proposals will be tabled presented at the upcoming Stakeholder Roundtable on 30 May 2025 in Stellenbosch, where the CSJ will formally launch its Policy Brief on Social Justice, Hunger and the Constitution and deepen multi-stakeholder dialogue on advancing the constitutional right to food.

Conclusion: Justice Must Be Nourished

Beyond the theatrics of World Hunger Day, we are called not just to reflect - but to act. Because hunger is more than an empty stomach; it is an indictment of unfulfilled promises. Our transformative Constitution calls us to build a society based on social justice, freedom, dignity and equality. Hungry students are proof that we are falling short.

It is time to treat student hunger as what it is: a violation of a constitutional and a betrayal of social justice. If we fail to act now, we risk building a future where the pursuit of knowledge is a privilege reserved only for the well-fed. So we ask: Whose duty is it to ensure that students are not hungry? And what kind of society do we become if we choose to look away?

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Dr Marna Lourens is the Project Manager and Researcher at the Centre for Social Justice at Stellenbosch University.

Thembalethu Seyisi is a Researcher at the Centre for Social Justice at Stellenbosch University and an admitted attorney.

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