Food (in)security, the moral economy, and Ubuntu in South Africa: a Southern perspective

Abstract

COVID-19 and rising energy costs have highlighted the interconnectedness of class, gender, race, and food insecurity. This article focuses on three interrelated arguments: the paradox of growing food surpluses alongside hunger and malnutrition; the role of a reconfigured Ubuntu philosophy; and two organisations that, despite central government’s failure to prioritise food provision as a moral and human rights issue, are operationalising Ubuntu. Critical re-appraisal of Ubuntu regarding food insecurity has been a neglected area of research. In drawing from the moral economy, we make an urgent case for a Southern perspective of Ubuntu as a more nuanced, dynamic, and holistic approach for addressing excess food production and indigence. Using qualitative analysis to examine community projects in South Africa, namely, Abalimi Bezekhaya in the Eastern and Western Cape and Siyavuna Abalimi in KwaZulu-Natal, Ubuntu is shown to offer a radical solution where collective structural organisation is sensitive to nutritional needs and grounded on communal responsibility rather than profits.