On 10 April 2025, SERI’s senior researcher, Dr Yvonne Erasmus, took part in an Expert Symposium on Social Justice, Hunger and the Constitution hosted by Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) at the Bertha Retreat in Pniel. This event built on an earlier gathering that took place on 5 September 2024 and aimed to bring together experts on food insecurity and hunger to examine the progress made towards alleviating hunger in South Africa, while also analysing the right to food by considering relevant constitutional frameworks, the international human rights framework, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the National Development Plan (NDP) from a social justice perspective.
The event was facilitated by the director of the CSJ, Professor Thuli Madonsela alongside Dr Marna Lourens, the manager of, and researcher at the CSJ. It brought together different stakeholders including academics, policymakers, government officials, Chapter 9 institutions, hunger alleviation organisations and corporate representatives. This year’s gathering focused on building upon the insights shared during the 2024 engagement, reflecting on the gaps identified in those discussions, highlighting significant policy developments, proposing actionable recommendations for advancing social justice and food security, and reviewing a draft policy brief to government to strengthen its relevance and uptake.
Yvonne spoke on a plenary panel entitled ‘Pragmatic challenges and barriers (the intersectional/interconnected drivers of food insecurity)’. She drew on SERI’s work on food insecurity, the right to food, the experiences of those affected, and the remedies they seek. She provided an update on this work since the last symposium and gave input from the perspective of civil society on the National Food and Nutrition Security Plan in response to a presentation on the plan by government.