Unsavoury: How effective are class actions in the protection and vindication of the right to access to food in South Africa?

Abstract The right to food in South African jurisprudence has remained underdeveloped and the right to food is often vindicated through other means and the protection of other, related rights. The modern development of class actions in South Africa is implicitly intertwined with the infringement of citizens’ right to access sufficient food. The first class actions initiated in South Africa involved the food industry and affordability of the most staple food, bread. Since then, a more recent class action has been filed against a food manufacturer for selling unsafe food to consumers. In addition to developing the jurisprudence on class actions in South Africa, previous and ongoing class actions involving food companies offer an opportunity to indirectly vindicate South Africans’ rights to access to sufficient food under s 27(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. This paper will examine the effectiveness of and manner in which class actions can be utilised to protect the right to food. We will analyse the manner in which the right to food has functioned in existing class actions relating to national legislation, like the Consumer Protection Act and the Competition Act and what future there is for the right in food-based class actions.