POLITICALLY AWEH: Hunger is political: Activist Mark Heywood on SA’s food crisis

Host KG Mokgadi sits down with veteran activist and former editor of Maverick Citizen Mark Heywood to unpack South Africa’s deepening food crisis, and why hunger should be treated as a political emergency. Heywood pulls no punches in his criticism of South Africa’s political leaders and corporations which oversee a food system that produces enough food for all while millions of people still go hungry.
Known for his fight for access to HIV treatment with the Treatment Action Campaign and defending constitutional rights through SECTION27, Heywood is now a co-founder of the Union Against Hunger. This is a civil society movement campaigning to end hunger and malnutrition. The movement argues that in a country producing more than enough food, hunger is not inevitable but political.
As food prices rise and climate disasters, pandemics and global conflicts intensify economic pressure, food insecurity is becoming one of the defining issues of our time. Yet, says Heywood, it remains dangerously absent from mainstream political debate.
Because hunger is not just about empty plates. It is about inequality, dignity, mental health and violence. Families are forced to choose between groceries and transport, parents skip meals so children can eat, and millions survive on grants that fall below the food poverty line.
“One of the explanations of domestic violence, of gender-based violence, is hunger that exists in families,” Heywood says. “Hunger breeds depression. Hunger contributes to mental ill health. Hunger contributes to despair … We’ve got this whole vicious circle, this toxic broth, that conspires against the people of this country – particularly poor people.”
The conversation explores why activists and court cases are still needed to force government action on rights already guaranteed in the Constitution, and whether organised people power can still drive change.
“We’re trying to build a new social movement that says that the levels of hunger in SA are unacceptable and unlawful,” he explains. “If we can build enough power around the right to food, then we can force change in the same way that we did with access to Aids medicines.”
At a time when many South Africans feel politically exhausted, the episode also becomes a conversation about the necessity, and joy, of activism itself.
For Heywood, activism is not only about protest, but about reclaiming agency, building community, and refusing to accept injustice as inevitable.
He argues that activism should not be left to “activists” alone. Whether through local campaigns, workplace organising, or speaking out against injustice, ordinary people can turn frustration into collective power, and rediscover hope in the process.
The episode also examines the climate crisis and the growing influence of fossil fuel companies through sport sponsorships. A former Comrades runner, Heywood questions how companies driving environmental destruction continue to use beloved sporting institutions to clean up their public image, particularly as climate disasters worsen hunger and inequality.
It is a reminder that hunger, inequality, climate injustice and corporate accountability are deeply interconnected.
The conversation asks urgent questions: What would it take to make food justice a political priority? And what might become possible if more people chose to act? DM
For more from Politically Aweh, subscribe on YouTube, visit our website or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or X.

Facts Only

* Host KG Mokgadi interviewed veteran activist and former editor Mark Heywood.
* Heywood is a co-founder of the Union Against Hunger, a civil society movement campaigning to end hunger and malnutrition.
* Heywood argues that hunger in South Africa is political, not inevitable.
* Food insecurity is intensified by rising food prices, climate disasters, pandemics, and global conflicts.
* Hunger is linked to inequality, dignity, mental health, and violence within families.
* Heywood suggests that hunger breeds depression, contributes to mental ill health, and fuels domestic violence.
* The conversation explores the need for activism and court cases to enforce constitutional rights related to food.
* Activism is framed as reclaiming agency and building community.
* The episode examines the connection between climate crises, fossil fuel companies, and hunger.

Executive Summary

Mark Heywood, a former editor and co-founder of the Union Against Hunger, discusses South Africa's food crisis and the argument that hunger must be treated as a political emergency. Heywood criticizes political leaders and corporations for overseeing a food system that produces sufficient food for all while millions remain hungry. He frames hunger not as an inevitability, but as a political issue rooted in inequality, dignity, and violence. He argues that hunger contributes to mental ill health, depression, and domestic violence within families. The discussion explores the necessity of civil society movements and activism to force government action on constitutional rights, suggesting that building power around the right to food is necessary for change, similar to the fight for access to HIV treatment. Furthermore, the episode connects food insecurity to broader systemic issues, including the climate crisis and the influence of fossil fuel companies, prompting reflection on how corporate actions intersect with global hunger and inequality.

Full Take

The narrative employs a powerful moral panic by centering hunger as an indictment of political and corporate structures, thereby framing food insecurity not as an economic problem but as a fundamental violation of human dignity and constitutional rights. The argument that hunger is "political" is a key mechanism for shifting responsibility away from individual consumption and toward systemic accountability. This framing strategically links food crises to broader themes of climate injustice and corporate accountability, leveraging existing public anxieties about environmental collapse and global inequality to create urgency. The focus on the "vicious circle" of hunger, mental health, and violence establishes an emotional link, making the abstract issue of food access tangible and immediate. The call for organized people power reflects a pattern common in social movements: challenging established authority by asserting that existing legal frameworks (like the Constitution) must be actively enforced by civil society. The implication is that inaction is complicity, and thus, activism is a necessary act of reclaiming agency against forces that seek to normalize suffering. The underlying pattern is the use of personal testimony to bridge the gap between policy and lived experience, demanding that systems address the human costs of their operations.

Sentinel — Human

Confidence

The text displays characteristics consistent with human-written commentary, featuring a specific activist voice and a nuanced synthesis of socio-political themes rather than the uniformity typical of synthetic generation.

Signals Detected

Natural variance in sentence length and rhythm; strong, passionate tone that avoids mechanical uniformity.

Strong, idiosyncratic emphasis on the intersection of hunger, violence, and political action, showing a specific, non-generic human voice.

Arguments are presented as a flowing narrative of interconnected themes (food, inequality, activism) rather than a simple recitation of talking points.

Human Indicators

The text contains specific, activist-driven links between abstract concepts (hunger, dignity) and concrete actions (SECTION27, social movement building).

The language exhibits a specific, critical, and passionate cadence, particularly in linking hunger to domestic violence and mental ill health, which points to a specific human perspective.

The structure moves from specific examples to broad philosophical arguments, characteristic of human-led editorial or journalistic writing.