Enterprise and livelihoods in Cape Town’s food system
Enterprise and livelihoods have been part of the SA Urban Food & Farming Trust’s work since its earliest years, with award-winning achievements in this area.
Food Indaba 2026: What we learned when we put water at the centre of the food system
From 20 July to 2 August, Food Indaba 2026 brought people together across Cape Town to explore a question that is at once obvious and easy to overlook: what happens when we understand water and food as parts of the same system? This year’s theme — Rivers, Oceans, Aquifers and Rainfall (ROAR) — provided a…
People as Infrastructure: Why Urban Land Use Must Be Reimagined Through the Lens of Food
By Rirhandzu Marivate, Programmes Manager at SA Urban Food and Farming Trust (SAUFFT), BSc (Hons) Ecology, Environment and Conservation, Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainable Development and Planning (Food Systems), MPhil Candidate in Sustainable Development (Food Systems) As South African cities continue to grow, I find myself returning to an increasingly urgent question: What does a just,…
SAUFFT’s Rirhandzu Marivate joins global sustainability exchange in Germany
As cities around the world grapple with climate change, waste management, mobility, and food insecurity, international collaborations are becoming increasingly important in shaping more sustainable urban futures.Earlier this month, SAUFFT’s Programmes Manager, Rirhandzu Marivate, travelled to Bavaria, Germany, as part of a knowledge-exchange and capacity-building mission focused on sustainable urban mobility, circular systems, and food…
Stories of impact: Busi Majola, GrowSA graduate
For Busisiwe “Busi” Majola, agriculture has always been more than a practice. It has been a lifelong fascination, shaped by childhood visits to rural areas, school projects, and a deep imagination of ecosystems where everything has a place. In 2019, that early love was reawakened with a new language: permaculture, sustainability, and regenerative farming. As…
Cultivating Change: Sibulele Plaatjie’s Story of Persistence and Possibility
In the heart of Langa, Sibulele Plaatjie is redefining what farming looks like for young women in her community. Raised in a single-parent household in Langa, Sibu knew she needed a way to generate income, and she wanted to do it in a way that aligned with her desire to live healthier. Growing her own…
New Voices, Shared Vision: Meet the Trustees Guiding SAUFFT Forward
One of the key highlights of this year was welcoming three new trustees to the SA Urban Food & Farming Trust: Miles Kubheka, Hadijah Nankanja and Nonhlanhla Taylor. Each brings not only expertise but also a deep personal commitment to community resilience, food justice, and the power of grassroots action. Their arrival has infused the…
Paving and Levelling of the Smiley Market: Strengthening Safety and Dignity
For decades, the Rhodes Street Smiley Market in Langa has been a cornerstone of local food culture. Known for the preparation and sale of “smileys”, sheep heads cooked over open flames, the market is both an economic lifeline for women traders and a gathering place for residents and visitors. Despite its vibrancy, the site had…
Cape Town Mayor Joins SAUFFT at the Lerotholi Ave Open Streets
Following the success of the inaugural Open Streets event, the SA Urban Food & Farming Trust (SAUFFT) was invited to participate in the Open Streets Experiments: Lerotholi Ave Sundays on 30 November. The platform allowed us to showcase work across our community programmes in Langa, Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, and Gugulethu. At the event, we were…
Langa Waste Forum Outing: A Community Learning Journey Towards a Circular, Zero-Waste Future
In November, a diverse group of City officials, community members, circular economy innovators, and local partners gathered in Langa for a full-day learning journey marking the beginning of the Langa Waste Forum. More than an educational trip, the outing became a moment of relationship-building, shared reflection, and collective visioning for what a cleaner, more circular,…
SAUFFT Impact Report – 2024/2025: What we did and why it matters
Our 2024/2025 Impact Report shows simple, practical change: people growing food, earning an income, and building community power. More than 1,300 farmers – most of them women – are now part of our Agrihub network. In Khayelitsha alone farmers earned over R1.1 million across two years, and the hub supplied tens of tonnes of organic…
Decentralising Resilience: What the Langa Agrihub Reveals About the Future of Climate Adaptation
The publication of Sustaining Urban Food Gardens for Community Resilience: A Case Study of the Langa Agrihub arrives at a critical moment, one in which compounding risks, cascading systemic failures, and escalating climate uncertainty are reshaping how societies must think about resilience. As global policy debates continue to centre technocratic, expert-driven models of risk governance,…
Langa’s Journey Toward a Community-Led Food Council Begins
Today, in collaboration with Food Agency Cape Town (FACT), we hosted the first Langa Food Council Workshop at Guga S’thebe in Langa. The gathering brought together a vibrant mix of voices, from urban farmers and informal traders to community kitchens, youth leaders, artists, educators, and local organisations, united by a shared commitment to building a…
SAUFFT Programmes Manager, Rirhandzu Marivate, at the Africa Food Systems Forum in Senegal
In early September, Rirhandzu Marivate, Programmes Manager at SAUFFT, attended the Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF) in Dakar, Senegal, one of the continent’s largest and most influential gatherings dedicated to shaping a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient food future. The forum brought together more than 6,000 delegates from across Africa, including governments, farmers, entrepreneurs, researchers,…
Open Streets Langa Brings Community, Culture, and Local Innovation to Life
This past Sunday, the streets of Langa came alive with movement, music, and connection during the Open Streets Langa event. For one afternoon, King Langa Libalele and Lerotholi Avenue were closed to cars and opened to people, creating a vibrant space for walking, dancing, shopping, and storytelling. The day celebrated the rich history and community…
Deepening Agrihub Roots: Strengthening Farmers Through Learning and Collaboration
This year has been about growth, not just in the gardens, but in knowledge, confidence, and collaboration. Across the Langa, Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain and Gugulethu Agrihubs, farmers have taken important steps to strengthen their skills and deepen their understanding of what it means to farm sustainably through training and workshops. What made this year’s learning…
Agrihub Gathering 2025: Growing Together
On Thursday, 16 October 2025, over 90 farmers from the Langa, Khayelitsha, Mitchell’s Plain and Gugulethu Agrihubs gathered in Gugulethu for a day of farmer-led workshops, discussions and showcases. The Agrihub Gathering is an annual chance for growers to exchange practical knowledge, celebrate wins, and deepen the relationships that sustain Cape Town’s growing network of…
SAUFFT Programmes Manager, Rirhandzu Marivate, at the Transformations Community / Earth System Governance 2025 Conference
In August 2025, the Transformations Community / Earth System Governance (TC/ESG) Conference brought together more than 400 scientists, academics, artists, activists, and practitioners from across the world. Held from 18–21 August under the theme Navigating Sustainability Transformations Towards Justice and Equity,” the conference created a rich space for dialogue on how to shape fairer, more…
Bellville Market Activation Day: Reimagining Informal Food Economies
Urban food systems are shaped not just by policies and infrastructure, but by the hands and hustle of everyday traders who feed our cities. To truly understand these systems and support them meaningfully, we must look beyond permits and plans and pay attention to the lived realities of those working on the ground. This was…
Empowering Urban Farmers Through Wellness and Indigenous Knowledge: The EESI Programme’s Impact in Khayelitsha
A year-long programme aimed at improving the health, well-being, and economic resilience of urban farmers in Khayelitsha showed promising results. The Environmental Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation (EESI) initiative, which ran from April 2024 to March 2025, brought together over two dozen participants, primarily women and backyard farmers, to reimagine nutrition, biodiversity, and entrepreneurship through targeted…
Amplifying Voices and Building Networks: SAUFFT at the IAEOZ Summit 2024
Community leaders, researchers, and other civil society stakeholders play key roles in supporting sustainable urban food systems. This is strengthened by exchanging insights and building networks across conventional boundaries. This approach was highlighted at the Innovation in Agriculture & Energy Opportunity Zone (IAEOZ) Summit 2024, where discussions focused on strategies for empowering farmers worldwide. Among…
Celebrating Growth and Achievement: The Fourth GrowSA Graduation
The fourth graduation ceremony of the GrowSA Learnership Programme marked a momentous occasion, celebrating the achievements of a dedicated group of individuals who have completed their journey of learning, mentorship, and skill development. This milestone not only honours their hard work but also highlights the impact of GrowSA in equipping changemakers within South Africa’s grassroots…
Langa Agrihub featured in new book, ‘Urban Resilience and Community Innovation in Crisis Gardening – A Global Perspective’
Crisis Gardening – A Global Perspective, presents an in-depth exploration of how communities are reimagining food systems amid persistent crises. This work challenges conventional approaches and encourages a reflective examination of urban agriculture practices as strategic responses to social, economic, and environmental instability. Structured in three broad sections, the book first defines and explains crisis…
Empowering Langa Farmers Through Agroecology & Business Training with WWF Nedbank Green Trust
Sustainable farming and financial literacy are key to the long-term success of small-scale farmers. In the past year, Langa farmers participated in two workshops focused on equipping them with the necessary skills to enhance their agricultural practices and financial management. Agroecology and Business WorkshopsThe Agroecology & Permaculture Workshop introduced farmers to sustainable and regenerative farming…
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