Every truckload tells a story. Every pallet carries hope.
This week, SA Harvest is coordinating one of the largest surplus food rescues of the year. With the support of the Road Freight Association (RFA) and its member carriers, 300 pallets of nutritious food are being redirected from potential waste into the hands of people who need it most.
Why this matters
Eighteen million South Africans go hungry every day, while over ten million tonnes of edible food is wasted annually. This isn’t a crisis of scarcity, but of logistics.
Each truck that rolls out represents more than pallets and tonnage. It represents futures fuelled, children supported through exams, and families spared the harshest edge of hunger.
How the operation works
At first light, rows of pallets that once risked being wasted are prepared for a new journey. Over an intense eight-day window, interlink trucks carrying 30 pallets each are dispatched to our hubs in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban.
It’s a coordinated ballet of schedules, routes, and resources: food being made available, carriers mobilising their fleets, and SA Harvest ensuring every load reaches the right place at the right time.
Partnership in action
Partnership is at the heart of this rescue. The RFA has mobilised its members to move hundreds of pallets across three provinces, while SA Harvest coordinates logistics to ensure every delivery is tracked, reconciled, and transformed into meals.
“Logistics is often invisible when it works well. But in a country where hunger is systemic, making logistics visible and accountable can be revolutionary.”
— Eugene Kriel, National Operations Manager, SA Harvest
The bigger picture
This operation is more than a logistical exercise. It shows what’s possible when food producers, logistics partners, and civil society stand shoulder to shoulder. Surplus food that might have been wasted is redirected with purpose. Trucks that usually carry goods for profit become carriers of dignity.
When we treat food as a human right rather than a commodity, we unlock the potential to turn millions of tonnes of surplus into millions of meals.
Join us
Hunger is not inevitable. South Africa has enough food, and the means to move it. What’s needed is the collective will to act.
💛 Partner with SA Harvest.
📦 Donate surplus food.
🚚 Support logistics that restore dignity.
Together, we can move mountains of surplus into millions of meals.