A new report by Save the Children South Africa has found that close to 13 million children — representing more than half of the country’s total child population — are currently living below the food poverty line, meaning they do not have access to sufficient calories for basic physical health and development. The report, titled “Hunger in the Heartland”, warns that the April 2026 fuel and electricity price shocks threaten to push this figure even higher as food costs rise and family budgets are stretched to breaking point.
The research draws on household survey data, school nutritional status assessments, and clinic growth monitoring records to present a comprehensive picture of child food insecurity that the authors describe as a humanitarian emergency unfolding within South Africa’s borders. Stunting — a physical marker of chronic malnutrition — affects approximately 27% of children under five, a figure that has not materially improved over the past decade despite sustained economic growth in certain years.
Save the Children is calling for the Child Support Grant to be immediately raised from its current level of R580 per month to at least R700, arguing that the current level is unable to meet even the most basic nutritional requirements for a growing child. The organisation is also advocating for the universal expansion of the school feeding programme to include Saturday and holiday meals in high-poverty communities, where the school meal is often the only guaranteed source of nutrition during the week.
The report highlights a sharp geographic disparity, with the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal recording the highest child poverty rates at provincial level. Rural communities in these provinces face the compounding challenges of poor agricultural productivity, limited income opportunities, and inadequate access to government services including social grant collection points.
South Africa’s Commissioner for the Rights of Children called the report’s findings “deeply shameful for a middle-income country” and urged Parliament to prioritise child poverty alleviation in the mid-year budget adjustment.
