Activists from the Union Against Hunger are staging a picket outside the South African Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRC) food inquiry in Johannesburg this Friday, demanding that major supermarket chains appear before the panel to justify skyrocketing food prices.

The demonstration features a symbolic “mock trial” targeting retail giant Shoprite, which the group accuses of failing to attend the hearings. The organisation is demanding an immediate price reduction on essential foodstuffs, pointing to severe levels of food insecurity and hunger across SA.

Union Secretary Esther Padi pointed out that retailers must be held legally and socially accountable for the soaring cost of basic goods, arguing that the country’s biggest chains cannot simply bypass the national inquiry while millions of citizens face starvation.

“Our main target is not just Shoprite alone, but they are the largest in SA,” Padi said. “But our call is for every retailer to drop food prices because we cannot sit down and watch 20 million South Africans going to bed hungry and always wondering where their next meal is going to come from. Today we are going to do a mock trial at the Commission and hand over a memorandum to the Commission so that the Commission can really compel them to attend. We need the answers.”

–ChannelAfrica–