Soup kitchens and feeding schemes were making a huge impact on addressing hunger and poverty in the eThekwini Municipality and South Africa.

A report by the eThekwini Community Participation and Action Support (CPAS) for January 31, revealed that there are 94 soup kitchens in eThekwini. A capital budget of R600 000 and an operating budget of R138 146 670 were allocated to the soup kitchen programme.

According to the municipal statistics, approximately 7 328 618 meals had been served for the 2023/24 financial year. The beneficiaries were estimated to be 5 496 463.

In the report, the municipality stated that due to social and economic problems that contributed to poverty, they undertook in 2002/3 to establish soup kitchens across all wards in the municipality.

However, due to financial constraints, the provision of soup kitchens had to be phased in.

The report stated that groceries, bread, and gas were procured through the Supply Chain Management (SCM) and delivered by service providers monthly.

The report unveiled how the system worked. Fresh vegetables were provided weekly and bread was delivered three days per week to the respective soup kitchen sites.

Meals were prepared at the main soup kitchen site and distributed to on-site beneficiaries and about seven satellite sites surrounding each soup kitchen.

Meal preparation was undertaken by volunteers and delivered by drivers recruited from the community who were paid a fixed stipend for their services.

The kitchens are closely monitored by the council programme officers who conducted daily monitoring and evaluation of the allocated sites. Each officer has about 14 sites. According to the report, the programme lacked staff capacity to monitor it effectively.

The kitchens are open between Monday and Friday. According to the report, the programme was supported by six permanent staff: four operational and two administrative, as well as four seconded staff. There were also 95 drivers and 655 volunteers.

The aim was to have one soup kitchen per ward but this milestone had not been reached due to financial limitations.

How it operates

Every soup kitchen had a register which beneficiaries signed. However, the numbers fluctuated. If there was a disaster in an area, the numbers increased significantly.

Chairperson of Food For Life Merebank, Paul Pillay, said they fed approximately two million people annually throughout their 34 branches in SA. In Merebank, they distribute 3 000 meals weekly in schools and in the community.

Pillay said it was a tough business, and the volunteers did not do it for public recognition.

Pillay also has a travelling kitchen to cook on sites where disasters occurred, adding that lunchtime meals were of great assistance to the recipients.

“We can see the impact on the group that there is a definite need for meals. We feed wholesome breyani, or rice with curry, or samp and beans. We are not government funded and all our work is volunteer based. We go where the road can take us,” he said.

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za

soup kitchens

Feeding hope: eThekwini's R138m soup kitchen success story