Poverty and high levels of food insecurity have been some of the biggest problems facing the nation of
South Africa since the early days of democracy. Whilst the black majority hoped for a more improved
economy after the country’s first democratic elections, the legacy of apartheid laws has made the
reality to be a different story. Yes, it is true that the nation has continued to grow over the last decade
but only the minority has enjoyed this growth at the expense of the majority. This paper attempts to
review the situation in South Africa (SA) through discussing food insecurity and the different faces of
poverty faced by the citizens of this rainbow nation. This paper covers a number of concepts, which
include the concept of food security, poverty, their definitions and application in South Africa’s context.
Poverty situation and their indicators in South Africa were also discussed. The paper advocates for the
development of small-scale agricultural system in rural areas, provision of financial support and
commercialization of the farm produce as the means to reduce poverty, achieve food security and
decimate the high rate of unemployment in South Africa.