Food price protest at Parly

A group of about 50 protesters gathered outside Parliament's main gate in Plein Street, Cape Town, at noon on Sunday, calling for rising food prices to be checked.

Among other things, the group called for the nationalisation of basic food production, including milk and bread.

The protesters, from the Congress of SA Trade Unions, the Black Sash, the Children's Resource Centre and the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, displayed posters proclaiming: "Fight hunger - demand food security for all".

Others read: "No child to go to bed hungry".

According to a memorandum - addressed to President Jacob Zuma and Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Petterrson - handed to a government representative, there is "deep concern" within communities about rising food prices.

The document calls for profiteering from basic food products to be made illegal.

It calls on government to, among other things, "nationalise basic food products production and distribution in order to remove excess profiteering in these sectors".

The memorandum also calls for the regulation of basic foods.

It further demands that land reform "puts the land back into the hands of indigenous South African farming communities".

The protest comes two days after World Food Day, on October 16, which this year adopted the theme "Achieving food security in times of crisis". - Sapa