We got some good news this week, plus 5 highlights from 'Vrye Weekblad'

The lockdown is biting hard. And in poor communities it isn't the bite of discomfort, but one of clear and present desperation. 

That is why the news that the Solidarity Fund, SA's largest Covid-fighting organisation which is led by some of the biggest names in the private sector, will today launch one of the largest food interventions in the history of our country.

The fund has put R120m aside to provide food parcels to more than 200,000 families across the country.

“The hunger is like a train in a tunnel,” Johannes Ruiter*, resident and community activist in a small town in the Eastern Cape, told us this week.

“Three weeks ago you knew the train was coming. A week later you could hear it and now you can smell the diesel and the light is blinding you and your foot is stuck in the tracks, and you know if nobody comes to help you, you are going to die here like an animal.”

In this week's edition of Afrikaans digital weekly Vrye Weekblad we look at problems such as Ruiter's, as well as possible solutions to the hunger crisis, which was here long before Covid-19 arrived.

“People have no idea about the level of fear and anxiety that is currently developing around food,” says Andy du Plessis, MD of FoodForward SA, an organisation that specialises in providing food to communities in need. 

“We've had a food insecurity crisis in SA long before Covid-19 arrived. In 2017, Oxfam indicated that 14 million people in SA were not sure where their next meal would come from and another 14 million were close to that,” he says.

But the news that the Solidarity Fund, which didn't even exist three weeks ago, is now ready to roll out this huge food distribution plan, is probably the best news we've had all week.

* Not his real name, he is scared of being targeted by police.  

Read the full article in this week's Vrye Weekblad

Must-read articles in this week's Vrye Weekblad

>> Browse the full April 17 edition

FREE TO READ — WE'RE BRINGING CLEVER BACK | An unintended but important outcome of the Covid-19 crisis could be that people with knowledge and experience can get their status as experts back after it was destroyed by populist politicians.

FREE TO READ — WHAT NEXT? | We have managed to delay the upward curve in our Covid-19 stats, but the worst is most likely yet to come. The good news is that the government acted fast and our planning was solid.

FREE TO READ — SAME OLD, SAME OLD, FOR THE POOR  | People are not worried about physical distancing. Perhaps because they are more worried about whether the money in their pockets will cover their meagre list of groceries than about standing a metre apart.

FREE TO READ — BEWARE | The emergency measures might weaken citizens' antennae that warn them against abuses of power. And the power-hungry are ready to take the gap and might not want to let go when the crisis is over. 

LOCKDOWN DISCOUNT | To help keep you busy during lockdown, we have a special offer: Read Vrye Weekblad for R60 for 60 days.