​The City has temporarily closed its Food Bank at the Joburg Market after a staff member contracted Covid-19.

MMC for Health and Social Development, Eunice Mgcina says all public health protocols for positive cases are being followed to contain the spread of the virus, as required by law.

“All contacts are currently self-isolating. The Food Bank will remain closed and disinfected. We anticipate that the Food Bank will re-open on 1 July 2020 and all the necessary precautionary measures will be implemented going forward," Mgcina explains.

The food pantry in City Deep collects, sorts, and reviews food for quality before allocating it to non-profit community agencies, including orphanages, poverty-stricken crèches, soup kitchens/homeless shelters, schools, old age homes, disability centres and indigent families.

It distributes about 40 000 vegetable packs each month and still had an outstanding 19 000 packs to allocate for the month of June when the positive case was confirmed.

The distribution depot collects weekly donations of fresh produce from market agents and retrieves foodstuffs marked by security as unclaimed and unaccounted-for on the market floor. It also uses its allocated budget to purchase fresh produce, meeting other donors halfway.

MMC Mgcina says the City is aware of the likelihood the positive case will have on the distribution of vegetables to indigent households.

​“I wish to apologise for the break in this service. I also want to make an impassioned plea to local leaders, FBOs and NGOs to assist people that might be in dire need because of the closure of the Food Bank," she says. 

The market's food bank receives a substantial proportion of its donations from agents who usually have excess food they cannot sell in the normal course of business​