Johannesburg Mayoral Town Hall on Ending Hunger

Tuesday, 13 October 2026 · 10:00 – 13:00 | Orlando East Communal Hall, Soweto

The Town Hall will be designed as a community accountability platform, not a conventional election debate. Its purpose is to give residents an opportunity to set the agenda, confront mayoral candidates with the everyday realities of hunger and the cost of living, and secure clear, measurable commitments that can be monitored after the meeting.

The central question guiding the event will be:

What will you do, as Mayor of Johannesburg, to ensure that residents can afford nutritious food, access dignified livelihoods and exercise their right to food?

The programme below combines community testimony, focused questions, direct engagement with candidates and a public record of commitments.

Guiding questions for mayoral candidates

Bread-and-Butter Issues:

• What three concrete actions will your administration take to help residents struggling to afford basic food and other essentials?
• What will you do to improve access to affordable, nutritious food in townships, informal settlements and low-income neighbourhoods?
• How will you support informal traders, street vendors, community markets and small food businesses without imposing unnecessary costs or restrictive regulations?
• Will you commit to implementing the City’s Food Resilience Policy, with a funded implementation plan, clear targets and public reporting?
• What budget will you allocate to food security, and how will residents be able to track expenditure and results?
• How will you make municipal land, water, infrastructure and technical support more accessible to community gardens, urban farmers and local food producers?
• Who in your administration will be politically accountable for implementing the policy, and how will departments work together?
• What will the City do to identify and support households experiencing severe hunger, including children, older people, people with disabilities and unemployed residents?
• How will you support community kitchens, food gardens, early childhood development centres and other community-led food initiatives sustainably, rather than relying on once-off donations?
• How will the City respond when families face hunger because of service disconnections, eviction, homelessness or loss of income?
• What will you do to connect residents to existing social grants, nutrition services and other support without creating additional bureaucratic barriers?
• What will you do to reduce edible food waste and improve safe redistribution of surplus food?
• Will you establish partnerships with retailers, wholesalers, markets and food producers to improve access to nutritious food while protecting the dignity of recipients?
• How will the City ensure that its procurement and contracting practices support local producers, cooperatives and small businesses?
• What measures will you take to ensure that corporate partnerships do not replace public responsibility or allow companies to dictate municipal food policy?
• Will you establish a regular public forum on hunger and food security, with community representation and published progress reports?