Abstract:
Food security has always been a contemporary issue in urban South Africa, which is
gripped by high inequality. This has recently been exacerbated by risks and hazards
pertaining to climate change and the more recent COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of
the study was to ascertain the food security status and the determinants thereof for urban
households in the City of Tshwane. The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale
(HFIAS) and Multinomial Logistic Regression were used to scale the patterns of
household-level determinants of food security of 775 households, distributed in 73
clusters, from the 7 regions of the City of Tshwane, South Africa. The study found that
39.2% of the households were food secure, 16.6% suffered from mild food insecurity,
12.1% were moderately food insecure, and 32.1% were severely food insecure. Food
security was significantly more prevalent in male-headed households, households with
younger members, households with educated heads, and those that are employed.
Household size and income were also determinants of food security. The results indicate
that age, gender (male), education, employment, household size, income, and grant type
were significant at the 1% level in extreme changes in food insecurity, while only the
grant was insignificant in mild changes in food security, with none of the variables being
significant in slight food security changes. Government social grants were inadequate to
guarantee food security status. The study concludes that there are extremes of food
security and severe food insecurity indicating inequality, with various socio-economic
factors affecting food security.
