The COVID-19 task team – comprising AfriForum, Saai and Solidarity Helping Hand – will continue to distribute food despite government’s dictatorial attempts to control food donations and distribution. The task team is strongly opposed to the guidelines announced by the Department of Social Development for the distribution of food, and it believes that the controlling and centralisation of food parcels slow down the food distribution process considerably and will keep the food from families who desperately need it.
Solidarity Helping Hand, who identifies families to whom the task team distributes food, will also accept neither food centralisation, nor the regulation of food donations, and will continue to distribute food to people in need.
Laeveld Agrochem has already donated 210 000 nutritious Genesis instant meals to the task team. Thanks to this donation, the task team could today distribute more than 100 000 instant meals in the southern and central parts of the country. AfriForum also packed 6 480 meals for indigents today.
“Government’s decision to centralise and regulate food distribution is irrational and inhumane. These regulations will cause people to go hungry and that their needs cannot be relieved immediately. We will continue to distribute food in cooperation with Saai and Solidarity Helping Hand,” says Ian Cameron, AfriForum’s Head of Community Safety.
“We will not allow donations that are entrusted to us to be regulated by government. These regulations will prevent healthy foods from being delivered to people who really need it. We will continue to help people in need,” says Francois Rossouw, CEO of Saai.
The public can donate to the Solidarity Movement’s emergency fund to support this project:
Account holder: Solidarity Helping Hand
Bank: FNB
Account number: 62 331 445 503
Branch: Centurion (branch code 250 655)
Reference: Korona
Swift code: FIRN ZA JJ
