Food insecurity, xenophobia, and political legitimacy

Exploring the links in post-Covid-19 South Africa

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3898352
AutoresKhulekani T Dlamini (Independent Researcher and Translator South Africa), Elizabeth Hull (0000-0002-1981-3533, SOAS University of London United Kingdom, autor de correspondencia)
Año2025
Volumen49
Número1
Páginase12667-e12667
Fecha de publicación2025-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaDisasters (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0361-3666 • E-ISSN: 1467-7717
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/disa.12667
PMID39508298
OpenAlexW4404144350
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas18

Food insecurity in South Africa was critical prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, but the problem deepened quickly during the pandemic when government controls caused job losses, a food supply collapse, and escalating hunger. The food and fuel price hikes and political instability that followed led to the July 2021 'unrest', which left more than 350 people dead. Behind this lay a crisis within the governing African National Congress. In this paper, we draw on in-depth interviews and ethnography with individuals working in food-based livelihoods to investigate how people continued to secure food, and how rural food systems were affected. Against a backdrop of hunger, social unrest, and xenophobic hostility, we consider how people perceive the state in a rural area of KwaZulu-Natal. We argue that weak governing institutions and South Africa's exposure to globally-triggered spikes in food and fuel prices are leading to food insecurity. Hunger, in turn, is contributing to a crisis of legitimation for the state

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Criminology · Development economics · Disease · Economics · Environmental health · Food insecurity · Food security · Geography · Infectious disease (medical specialty · Legitimacy · Pandemic · Political science · Politics · Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 · Sociology · Xenophobia · Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations · Law · Medicine · Internal Medicine · Virology