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The Right to Food

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The gates of Rosedale Field in Uitenhage opened and crowds came streaming in, greeted with food parcels and bottled water, ahead of the official 2015 Human Rights Day commemoration in Uitenhage, Eastern Cape.

Corney Wright from the Department of Arts and Culture says “We are expecting more than 5000 people from the surrounding area and the greater Eastern Cape… For some these parcels come as a relief.”

The lunch bags contain a quarter portion of chicken, slap chips and a can of soda.

“At this moment I can tell you there is nothing at home,” says 41 year-old mother of two Jolene Wagenaar.

“The food parcels were a surprise to us,” adds 17 year-old Curtey Samson, “Obviously we liked that they were added but we are here to remember those who died in 1985.”

Uitenhage and Langa were the scenes of two brutal massacres on 21 March 1985. People were protesting against the apartheid government and were killed, much like those who died in the Sharpville massacre of 1960, for which the day is remembered.

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