As the largest supermarket in South Africa, Shoprite feeds most households in Mzansi and has even boasted about being the country’s biggest employer [1]. In the 2024 financial year, Shoprite made an average daily profit of R16 million. This is the average profit that the Shoprite Group made from 2023 to 2024 [2], with the CEO making R83 million[3], making him the highest-paid retail CEO in the country. This is while 15 million people across South Africa struggle to afford to put food on the table [4]! 
Are we being overcharged for food? Mzansi has enough food to feed everyone, but food prices mean people go to sleep hungry. Shoprite and other food retailers must be transparent about their pricing. Some businesses have been ripping off consumers. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pick n Pay admitted to price gouging garlic and ginger [5]. 

We demand that supermarkets and big food businesses provide data and information about their pricing throughout the supply chain, including how much is paid to producers. This will enable regulators and others to monitor prices more effectively. As the biggest supermarket in South Africa, Shoprite can lead by example. 

We call on Shoprite CEO, Pieter Engelbrecht and President Cyril Ramaphosa to: 

1. Drop food prices, especially for the 10 best buys (rice, long-life milk, soya, eggs, tinned fish, dried beans, peanut butter, fortified maize meal, amasi, and lentils). Access to sufficient food and basic nutrition for children is a constitutional right in South Africa. These foods are full of protein and energy. That doesn’t mean that other foods are not important. These foods could provide high nutritional value at the lowest cost, especially for families living below the poverty line [6].
2. President Ramaphosa must implement legislation on food wastage in South Africa; companies can’t just throw away fresh food when people go to bed hungry. 
3. We demand more public engagement in the government’s draft National Food Security and Nutrition Plan.