SAHRC turns spotlight on supermarkets over food prices and hunger
· Citizen
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) will investigate the role of major retailers, including supermarkets, in food pricing and affordability as it advances its national inquiry into the country’s food systems.
The commission announced the third leg of its National Food Systems Inquiry on Friday, marking World Food Day, as it renewed its call for supermarket groups and other retail-sector stakeholders to participate in the investigation.
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The inquiry will examine market concentration, pricing dynamics, and the influence of large retailers on food distribution and accessibility.
“Meaningful engagement with the retail sector will enable the Commission to better understand the operational, commercial and structural considerations that shape food pricing, supplier relationships, and consumer access,” the SAHRC said.
Hunger persists despite food production capacity
World Food Day is observed annually on 16 October to raise awareness of hunger and the need for food systems that uphold human dignity.
The commission said South Africa continued to face hunger despite its capacity to produce sufficient food, raising questions about the economic, structural and institutional barriers that prevent people from accessing adequate food.
“In South Africa, where hunger persists alongside the country’s abundant food production capacity, the realisation of the right to food requires sustained attention to the structural, economic and institutional factors that determine who can access food, at what cost, and under what conditions,” it said.
The SAHRC initiated the inquiry following complaints about persistent barriers to accessing adequate food.
Its investigation seeks to examine the factors contributing to food insecurity and the conditions affecting people’s ability to exercise their right to food.
Supermarkets urged to participate
The third phase will build on two previous legs of the inquiry.
The first leg, held in March 2026, examined the structural and economic factors contributing to hunger and exclusion despite national food sufficiency.
It also considered the concentration of power across the food value chain, land access, tenure security, and the challenges facing women, smallholder, and communal farmers.
Other areas included the role of indigenous knowledge systems, traditional seed practices and agroecology in strengthening food security and resilience.
The commission also examined how civic participation, public accountability and social movements could advance the right to food.
The second leg, held from 6 to 10 July, focused on engagement with private-sector stakeholders across the food value chain.
These included agricultural input distributors, farmers, agricultural lobby groups, food processors and retailers.
The SAHRC is now renewing its engagement with supermarkets and other relevant retail-sector stakeholders, particularly those that did not participate in the second phase.
It said their involvement was important to ensure the inquiry considered a broad range of evidence.
“The Commission considers the participation of these stakeholders important to ensuring that the Inquiry benefits from a broad and balanced evidentiary record,” it said.
Third phase details to follow
The commission said engaging retailers would help it better understand the commercial and structural factors influencing food prices, relationships between suppliers and retailers, and consumers’ access to food.
The findings and evidence gathered through the inquiry will contribute to its examination of the country’s food system and the barriers affecting the realisation of the right to food.
The SAHRC has not yet announced the date, venue or final programme for the third leg of the inquiry. It said it would announce these details soon.