Gauteng Premier David Makhura alongside Mayor Mzwandile Masina officially launched the Ekurhuleni Food Bank at the Fresh Produce Market in Springs on Tuesday morning.
The food bank is a co-operative initiative between government, aid organisations and business.
Speaking at the launch, Makhura said one of the ways in which they were fighting Covid-19 was through addressing the issue of food security.
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“Ordinarily in our province, 20 per cent of the population is food insecure which means they do not have access to food for every day of the week,” said Makhura.
“With the lockdown, people cannot make a meaningful living and are struggling to make ends meet.
“Since the lockdown started, we have provided food to 2 000 households per day, using five distribution points across Gauteng.
“We have helped 72 000 people across the province, giving them enough food for the month,” said Makhura.
He said the number of people they needed to help had doubled since the lockdown started.
In Springs, 466 households were helped on the day of the launch.
Makhura warned their existing food supply would only last until next week, with Masina appealing for donations until the end of May.
The food bank is for the residents of Ekurhuleni. Masina says those who need help will be identified using the existing indigent database.
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Those who are not on the list but need help were urged to contact their ward councillors who would then contact the department of social development.
“Households requiring help will be subject to verification checks before they get help. The role of the ward councillors will be to help us identify families that need help.
“Those who get help will not be based on political affiliation, but on their need. The hungry must be fed,” says Makhura.
Businesses who have donated to the food bank include Trio Foods, who donated 5 000 meat hampers.
“We need to get together as a community to feed people,” said Angelino Pereira of Trio Foods.
Appletree Fresh Market, together with Maxis Butchery, also donated 5 000 bags of mealie meal. Pick n Pay Strubenvale also donated to the food bank.
Present at the launch was Riaz Paruk, who is part of a group of privately owned bus operators who wanted to extend a helping hand to communities in areas in which they operate.
Paruk says as a group they have collected 30 000 bags of mealie meal for Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal.
Also contributing to the food bank was the Sandton Islamic Association in partnership with Meal SA, who started a mealie meal campaign to raise funds for 100 000 12.5kg bags of mealie meal.
“In collaboration with eight other aid organisations, we have raised R4-million, which was enough to buy over 50 000 bags.
“Today, we will donate 30 000 bags of mealie meal, and tomorrow another 50 000 bags in Booysens. We are now aiming to raise R6-million so we can take our campaign countrywide,” said Dr Ismail Mitha from the Sandton Islamic Association.
Makhura and Masina appealed for donations of sanitisers, masks and gloves, especially for frontline healthcare workers.
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