On 22 April 2026, GroundUp published an opinion editorial authored by SERI intern Lungelo Mncwabe titled 'The need to grow food in informal settlements'. The op-ed reflects on how residents, and women in particular, in the Slovo Park informal settlement are using urban food gardens to address rising food insecurity, and the impact of the very slow pace of informal settlement upgrading in the settlement.
Ten years after the landmark Melani judgment ordered the City of Johannesburg to upgrade Slovo Park under the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (UISP), residents still lack proper water, sanitation, and adequate housing. Meanwhile, food insecurity is acute – and it is women who bear the heaviest burden.
The op-ed argues that government must take food security seriously when upgrading informal settlements. Drawing on consultations with women in Slovo Park, the op-ed reveals how rising food prices and unemployment have forced some to resort to desperate measures, exposing them to gender-based violence. But there is hope. Small-scale urban food gardens – using innovative cone gardening methods – are already transforming backyards and underutilised land into sources of nutrition, income, and dignity. With state support, these community-led initiatives could flourish.
Mncwabe writes:
"These initiatives are doing more than feeding households, they are also creating livelihoods. Women have been able to sell surplus produce within the community, generating small incomes and supplementing social grants.
With widespread and extreme poverty in informal settlements, urban agriculture is emerging as a practical pathway towards both food security and livelihood sustainability. If community-led initiatives such as these are to succeed and expand, greater state support is essential."
- Read the full op-fed here.