Surplus People Project

30/08/2026

Climate justice is land justice.
Climate justice is food sovereignty.
Climate justice is people’s rights.

At SPP, our work is rooted in the connections between these struggles and in building collective power for a just and sustainable future.

From South Africa to Sweden, solidarity matters, across borders and across movements. 🌍✊🏾

Solidarity from Southern Africa to Sweden! 🎋

Ahead of "DEN STORA KLIMATDEMONSTRATIONEN" https://fb.me/e/7CRIiOLaE the 23 of August, two of Afrikagrupperna's partner organisations have sent messages of solidarity to everyone taking to the streets in Stockholm!

Surplus People Project (SPP) highlights the connections between climate justice, land and food sovereignty, democracy and people's rights, and the importance of people and movements coming together across borders to demand change.

Ilrig Sa (International Labour Research and Information Group) reminds us that what happens with the climate in Sweden is directly connected to what happens in South Africa and vice versa. They emphasise that the climate crisis is a shared crisis that requires collective action and changes in how we live and how we use and care for the Earth's resources.

Their messages remind us that climate justice cannot be achieved in isolation. The struggles for land, food sovereignty, people's rights and a just future are deeply connected.

We are grateful to our partners for standing in solidarity with everyone participating in the demonstration in Stockholm.

From Southern Africa to Sweden – in solidarity for climate justice. 🌍✊🏾

29/08/2026

Women’s Space of Power: Women, Care and Land

Today, women from rural communities came together to reflect, share experiences, and build collective power around care, land, and the systems that shape their lives.

From conversations on gender-based violence and patriarchy to land, labour, and resistance, the day was about connecting what women experience in their everyday lives to the bigger questions of power and justice.

A space for women to speak, listen, learn, and organise.

29 - 30 August 2026 | Women’s Space of Power

29/08/2026

As Women’s Month comes to a close, we are reflecting on why violence against women continues and what it will take to change the conditions that allow it to persist.

For women in rural and farming communities, violence does not exist in isolation. It is connected to insecure work, poverty, unequal access to land, housing insecurity, and limited access to services.

These are questions of power: Who has land? Who controls resources? Whose work is valued? Who has the freedom to make choices and live with dignity?

At SPP, we understand gender justice as inseparable from land justice, labour rights, and food sovereignty.

Accountability for violence is essential. But ending violence also requires confronting and transforming the systems that reproduce inequality.

Beyond awareness questions for change ask us to carry these conversations beyond August and towards the changes needed to build safer, more just, and dignified lives for women.

12/08/2026

TODAY IN PARLIAMENT.

The Portfolio Committee on Land Reform and Rural Development continued its engagement on Farm Worker Equity Schemes (FWES), with the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development presenting its response on the implementation of these schemes, in response to the petition submitted by SPP and its partners to the Speaker of Parliament on the failures of Farm Worker Equity Schemes.

During today's presentation, the Department acknowledged that the Zalo Report was never implemented, monitoring of Farm Worker Equity Schemes was inadequate, landowners often dominated the establishment and control of many schemes, tenure was compromised where workers acquired equity instead of land, and that the circumstances surrounding the sale of shares in 19 schemes remain unknown.

These are significant admissions.

But acknowledgement alone is not enough.

SPP and its partners, including Witzenberg Justice Coalition pictured above, continue to call for a time-bound implementation plan, clearly assigned responsibilities, dedicated budgets and ongoing parliamentary oversight to ensure that these commitments lead to meaningful action.

Land reform cannot stop at promises on paper. It must deliver meaningful ownership, accountability and justice for farm worker communities.

09/08/2026

What do women's lives reveal about South Africa today?

As South Africa marks Women's Month and commemorates 70 years since the 1956 Women's March, we pause to reflect on more than women's achievements.

We reflect on the conditions that continue to shape women's lives.

Land, labour, food, and care are often discussed as separate issues. But for millions of women, they are experienced all at once.

In our latest blog, we reflect on the lives of women who are growing food, preserving knowledge, organising for justice, caring for their communities, and creating change every day. Their experiences remind us that land, labour, food, and care can not be separated, and neither can the struggle for justice.

As you read, we invite you to reflect:

• What would it mean to truly empower women beyond slogans?

• Who grows our food, and who benefits from their labour?

• Why is care still treated as invisible work rather than a shared responsibility?

• What would South Africa look like if land, labour, food, and care were organised around justice instead of inequality?

Read the full reflection here: https://spp.org.za/postove/what_womens_lives_reveal_about_south_africa

Brot für die Welt Afrikagrupperna Foundation for Human Rights SODI fans

A Women's Month reflection from SPP exploring land justice, food sovereignty, agroecology and the everyday realities of women across South Africa.

07/08/2026

Today we begin the Participatory Appreciation Action Research (PAAR) process in Mfuleni.

PAAR is a community-led process that creates space for people to reflect on their lived realities, recognise the strengths that already exist within their communities, and build a shared understanding for collective action.

Throughout the day, participants will engage in reflection, dialogue and learning together, because the knowledge needed for change already exists within communities.

18/07/2026

Mandela Day reminds us that every act of service matters. We honour every person, community group and organisation giving their time to support others today.

But real change is not built in a single day.
Across communities, it is the everyday acts of solidarity that sustain people, how neighbours show up for one another, how families grow food in home gardens, how communities innovate and respond to daily challenges.

These ongoing contributions are what keep people going.
At the same time, one act alone cannot change the deeper realities people face. The inequalities that shape people's lives are not accidental.

They are built into systems that determine who has access to land, food, decent work and opportunity. While acts of kindness meet immediate needs, justice requires us to confront and transform these systems.

Today and every day, we recognise the power of collective, sustained action rooted in communities.

This Mandela Day, we're revisiting an op-ed by our CEO, Brian Adams, which reflects on why real transformation means moving beyond charity towards lasting systemic change.

Read it here: https://articles.spp.org.za/

Charity soothes the wound. Justice closes it. Don’t just do good. Dismantle what causes harm. Mandela Day soothes the national conscience but leaves systemic injustice untouched. This op-ed calls for action beyond charity and symbolic gestures.

07/07/2026

7 - 8 July | High-Level National Policy Dialogue on the Rights to Work and Social Security for Farm and Domestic Workers

Surplus People Project is participating in the High-Level National Policy Dialogue on the Rights to Work and Social Security for Farm and Domestic Workers, contributing to discussions on a national roadmap to advance the rights of farm and domestic workers.

Representing SPP, Brian Adams shared insights from our work alongside farm workers and farm dwellers, bringing the lived realities of rural communities into this important national conversation.

Labour rights, tenure security, housing, food, safety and dignity cannot be treated as separate issues.

Too often, workers facing labour rights violations, eviction threats and food insecurity are left to navigate multiple institutions, each responsible for only one part of the crisis.

While improving coordination is important, it is not enough.

Meaningful change requires addressing the structural conditions that continue to produce inequality and insecurity.
Communities should not only be consulted, they should be recognised as active partners in shaping, monitoring and holding institutions accountable for implementation.

As the national roadmap develops, SPP hopes it strengthens accountability across institutions, recognises the interconnected nature of workers' rights, and creates conditions where farm workers, farm dwellers, domestic workers, migrant workers and other vulnerable workers can exercise their rights without fear of losing their livelihoods, homes or dignity.

The true test of this roadmap is whether it shifts power and creates meaningful change in the lives of workers and rural communities.

30/06/2026

This past week, an agroecology workshop took place in Mfuleni, a peri-urban community on the outskirts of Cape Town. The workshop marked an important step in the development of agroecology in Mfuleni, grounded in the realities, knowledge, and priorities of the local community.

With the support and leadership of Mfuleni’s agroecology farmers, the workshop brought together farmers, community members, and young people for a day of shared learning, practical exchange, and collective reflection. Participants explored agroecological practices through hands-on demonstrations on soil health, composting, water-wise approaches and making the most of locally available resources. Alongside these practical sessions, open conversations created space to reflect on local challenges, share lived experiences and imagine what stronger local food systems could look like in Mfuleni.

One of the most encouraging aspects of the workshop was the active participation of young people. They not only joined in the practical activities but also contributed ideas, asked thoughtful questions and showed a growing interest in agroecology as a way of caring for both people and the environment. The workshop became a space for intergenerational learning, where elders shared lived experience and indigenous knowledge, while young people brought fresh perspectives, curiosity and energy.

The workshop also reinforced an important principle of agroecology: communities already hold valuable knowledge. Rather than introducing entirely new ideas, the sessions built on existing practices and experiences, strengthening confidence, encouraging exchange and recognising the knowledge that already exists within the community.

As agroecology in Mfuleni continues to grow, spaces like these lay the foundation for stronger relationships, collective learning and community-led action. By bringing people together to learn from one another, communities strengthen their capacity to shape local food systems rooted in agroecology, dignity and food sovereignty.