GOOD speech by Brett Herron,
GOOD: Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
25 May 2022
Note: This is the speech that was delivered by GOOD Secretary-General and Member of Parliament, Brett Herron, during today’s Parliamentary Debate on Africa Day.
South Africa collectively produces more food than it can eat.
Yet approximately a quarter of our population experiences moderate to severe food shortages.
With approximately a quarter of our population suffering from hunger how can we expect to build a sustainable and stable society?
We cannot make progress while young and old are going to bed with empty stomachs.
Environmentalism, sustainability and climate change are all no longer issues up for debate.
They are matters of national, international and planetary concern.
There are no borders, politics and discussions with mother nature.
So we need to understand that as a matter of generational justice, for the sake of future generations, we need to make serious change and implement preventative measures.
While other nations struggle to deal with tsunami’s, earthquakes and tornado’s which wreak havoc in urban environments, we face a completely different type of killer.
Floods, famines and droughts impact one of our most basic needs being access to food – an issue that the entire African continent has been fighting for decades.
Kwazulu Natal’s flooding disaster is the living evidence that there is need for a rapid change in our attitudes if we are to not only combat climate change but safeguard our people against the fallout after the disaster has taken place.
Food security should be the what grounds our rebuilding project. We have lost critical crops for both domestic consumption and exports. Our task now is to reduce our impact on the climate and to build back with a clear understanding of how our consumption of our natural resources, including land, has contributed to the devastation we have seen.
We can also take inspiration from the incredible projects being created by African organizations to combat this issue. Projects such as the Eastern Cape’s Sibusiso Ready Food Supplement which provides a paste, similar to peanut butter, have been a complete success and a major form of aid to children battling malnutrition.
And, we must support sustainable fishing solutions such as the Zini Fishing Farms in KZN. These farms should not be forced to close their doors due to a lack of funding and investment. Rather they should be protected and supported as the future of sustainable fishing in South Africa.
Initiatives and companies such as these have the potential to feed and employ families, communities and eventually towns with the correct support.
Educating our country plays a vital role in understanding the idea of sustainability.
But when our citizens don’t have the necessary food to survive or support a family how can we expect them to care about the future rather than the empty plates of the present?
We have South African means, we South African innovators, but what we lack is the support of policy and government.
Let this Africa day be the first seed planted in our journey into the sustainable South Africa.
Media enquiries:
Brett Herron, GOOD: Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
Cell: 0825183264
Email: bretth@forgood.org.za
Samkelo Mgobozi, GOOD: Media Manager
Cell: 0792315977 (whatsapp)/0829684021 (calls)
Email: samm@forgood.org.za