Scores of foreign nationals living in South Africa, who often fall under the cracks when food aid is distributed, have received aid from a Johannesburg company, T2N, in partnership with the Gauteng Food Security Committee.
The foreigners, some undocumented, are part of 38000 people living in the Gauteng province who have received nutritionally balanced food packs since the lockdown began in March.
T2N Site Executive, Thandani Nkomo Zwide, said they were pleased to have reached 9500 families since the start of lockdown. He confirmed that, at least, 35% of the beneficiaries are foreign nationals living in and around Pretoria and Johannesburg.
Many families have been left destitute and organisations like T2N have stepped in to ease the effects of lockdown for several communities in Gauteng and beyond.
About 232.8 tons of food and essentials have been given out to ease the sting of lockdown on child-headed homes, orphaned children, gender-based violence victims and migrants.
“The impact of Covid-19 has been hard on many people, including informal traders and those living in the informal settlements. When we were approached to assist with logistics, warehousing and distribution of aid, we saw this as a noble idea.
"It’s something you don’t derive profit from, but it warms our hearts that in this dark time we’ve been able to light up the hearts of the less fortunate. We’ve offered our expertise and world-class facilities to assist to get the food out in the most dignified manner,” Zwide said.
T2N is a market leader in the pharmaceutical, pro-pack and logistics industries, and Nkomo added that the same high standards applied when handling pharmaceutical products were observed when making up food parcels.
He said they were aware of the need for vulnerable households to access safe and nutritious food during the State of Disaster - which has been extended to August 15.
“We can’t have a situation where we give food items that are unfit for human consumption while the world is already in this precarious position. So we must ensure the highest hygiene standards are exercised,” Zwide added.
Each food-aid parcel includes starch-rich foods (maize meal and rice), protein-source foods (baked beans, tinned fish, sugar beans and 800g of peanut butter), tinned Chakalaka, packets of soup, cooking oil, tea bags, jam, sugar, coffee creamer, salt and laundry soap. “We believe
whichever little corner you are in, brighten it. If everybody lit a little flame in each corner, we’d make a difference in our communities,” said Zwide.