Nkandla - The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government launched the One Home One Garden campaign to help to fight hunger and poverty in the province as part of Mandela Day.
On Saturday Madiba will celebrate his 91st birthday by urging people to demonstrate acts of humanity and improving the world we live in.
During the launch in Qhudeni on Saturday, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Dr Zweli Mkhize said the campaign formed part of efforts to ensure food security in a province were 35 percent of population was food insecure, a situation which is exacerbated by escalating food prices.
Communities will be given seeds, gardening tools and taught how to plant vegetables in their homes.
"The programme is about everything that Mandela taught us to value as a nation namely 'doing something good to help others', caring for poor and hungry and sickly, and having compassion for those less fortunate than us," he said.
According to statistics, there were 3.5 million people in KwaZulu-Natal who are in need of an intervention to enhance their food security, said Mr Mkhize, adding that this mean that government would target the vulnerable communities first and encourage those who are less vulnerable to get involved.
An inter-departmental task team on food security has been assembled to collect data on the levels of deprivation at ward level.
"The data will be used to target the orphans, child-headed households, and those headed by elderly, widows, the disabled, the sickly and those in distress," said Premier Mkhize.
He also pointed out that food parcels would only be used as a temporary measure, while more sustainable forms of support are sought and that people will be assisted to get birth certificates and identity documents and enrol them into agricultural co-operatives and create home gardens.
Dr Mkhize also urged the people of KwaZulu-Natal to create a garden, whether they live in rural areas or cities.
"The responsibility of fighting hunger does not rest on the government alone. In fact it is a responsibility for all South Africans if it has a chance to succeed. We invite all the citizens to join us in the campaign which is not directed to poor communities alone."
MEC for Finance Ina Cronje said the people of the province must come together and start a vegetables garden.
"Even the churches can start their own garden and we also want to see the schools producing vegetables in their garden in order to feed a number of hungry children," said Ms Cronje.
