Khuthaza Foundation NPC

South Africa is a country rife with inequality, and some of the most extreme inequality manifests in the form of food insecurity whereby an estimated 6.5 million people suffer from hunger (1). The pandemic has exacerbated the issue significantly in 2020, as informal workers lost their source of income and poverty increased rapidly.

Bianca and Sipho co-founded and run Khuthaza Foundation, a registered non-profit in South Africa. Its purpose is to fight food insecurity, provide waste management education and promote environmental sustainability for a better world. The organisation sees itself as the custodian of responsible production and consumption with the goal of reducing future economic, environmental and social costs, strengthening economic competitiveness and reducing poverty.

The three main avenues of impact are food gardens, waste management, and tree planting. Khuthaza designs and builds food gardens in corporate parks, schools and previously and currently disadvantaged communities, to achieve zero hunger and healthier communities. Since 2019, it has managed to carer for 1,950 adults and children. Khuthaza also organises community cleanups, teaching communities how to upcycle using eco-bricks to build seedbeds, park benches, and other structures, activities which have contributed to the collection of over 14 tonnes of plastic waste. Currently, the eco-bricks are used to build raised beds for community food gardens. The ultimate goal is to construct affordable housing using eco-bricks.

Finally, the team sources trees and succulents, organising planting events to help with CO2 sequestration and urban cooling in Johannesburg. These activities planting more than 2,200 trees has contributed to the removal of an estimated 104,000kg of carbon from the atmosphere.