Following on from our Daily Maverick op-ed exposing the exclusion of informal workers from maternity protections, the conversation continued on SAFM. Julie Mentor, project lead for Embrace: Movement for Mothers (a DG Murray Trust project), explained how millions of independent contractors and informal workers remain locked out of maternity and parental benefits under South Africa’s labour laws. She was joined by Nomfundo Mkhaba, an Embrace Mamandla Fellow from KwaZulu-Natal, who shared her own experience of being unable to claim maternity benefits after giving birth in 2022. Nomfundo works with Momama Bemvelo, a sister organisation of Waste for Change, which supports unemployed women through job creation and environmental education. Together, their voices underscored the urgent need for reforms such as a Maternal Support Grant to protect the more than 40% of South Africa’s 1.9 million self-employed women.
Radio 702 Interview: Pledge to end child stunting by 2030 – time is running out
More than a quarter of South African children under five are stunted — too short for their age because of chronic malnutrition that often begins
May 1, 2026
