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 smallscale
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.