The Trajectory of Food Security Policies in South Africa, 1910-1994: The Persistence of Redistributive Food Subsidies

What was the trajectory of food security policies in South Africa from 1910 to 1994? How can policy changes which confirmed and contradicted a seemingly unambiguous racist ideology be explained? These are the central questions which this paper addresses as it explores public policies that had food security objectives in pre-apartheid and apartheid South Africa, that dealt with the challenges of poverty induced hunger and malnutrition. The paper employs a process sociological approach by way of figurational analysis to look at how divergent class interests and ideology influenced and defined policymaking and South African food politics. In a period where forces of racist disregard, dispossession and exploitation advocated for complete welfare disengagement which remained unfeasible with the poor majority continuing to benefit from redistributive food policies, the paper seeks an explanation on policy changes and contradictions between ideology and practice. It posits the case of South Africa is insightful on the importance of food security policies as an overlooked form of public welfare provision which is as a central aspect of state society relations. Findings suggest that between 1910-1994 in a framework of a racialised welfare state, food policies were largely coherent with other welfare policy developments. The apartheid state walked a contradictory course between ideological commitments, disengagement from the welfare of the indigenous people and economic considerations that suggest a stronger incorporation of the African population in the welfare system. From a political economy perspective, the paper shows that South African food policies were part of a larger tradition of food market regulation. Ideologically, the country’s development ran counter to global trends that emphasised inequality and disenfranchisement in a period of global decolonisation and desegregation. While global trends were eagerly taken up in South Africa, the domestic political figuration remained ultimately decisive for the trajectory of food policies. The paper concludes that the apartheid food welfare system of subsidies and market regulation, constituted a surprisingly consensual system in a society strongly polarised by class and racism.