An estimated 14 million people go to bed hungry in SA every night, while more than 1,000 children died from malnutrition last year.
This emerged during the South African Human Rights Commission's (SAHRC) national inquiry into the country's food systems, which is under way in Johannesburg this week.
The figures were presented by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), whose research has found that food insecurity affects about 63.5% of households in the country.
The inquiry, now in its second phase, is examining why millions still go hungry in a country that produces more than enough food to feed its people. It is hearing evidence from agribusinesses, farmers, food manufacturers, retailers, researchers and civil society groups.
The commission is probing the concentration of power in the food value chain, failures of institutional coordination, policy gaps, and the role of land and indigenous knowledge in the country's food systems.
