About Us
The “Pots & Pens to Parliament” campaign was born out of a four-year critical feminist research process that accompanied women leading community kitchens in Cape Town. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these kitchens became crucial infrastructures of survival, feeding thousands of people daily in contexts of deep poverty, hunger, and violence. The campaign translates these experiences into political claims: that care and food are not only acts of survival, but also a right and a demand for justice.
2024 TEAm
Nomonde Buthelezi
FACT Coordinator and Campaign Lead
Nomonde Buthelezi - A farmer without land, a community researcher, and a facilitator. Executive Director at Food Agency Cape Town (FACT), a community-led activists organisation that advocates for the people's right to food and their agency through co-research, food dialogues, and reading circles using art-based methodology. Also former project coordinator for Urban Food Future, a partnership between FACT and TMG - Think Tank for Sustainability.
ZAIDA ANDREWS
Campaigner
Zaida Andrews, a dedicated member of the Alcardo Andrews Foundation and campaigner for Pots&Pen. She is a passionate advocate for food justice and community empowerment. This mother of two, believes that food security is a fundamental human right and a key pillar for building thriving communities. During the campaign, she played a vital role in organizing and participating in a range of impactful activities. These included learning journeys, the "Pots&Pens" march to Parliament, community kitchen visits, reading circles, and community dialogues. She was instrumental in the planning and success of the first-ever Community Kitchen Summit held in the Western Cape - an important milestone in the movement for dignified food access and grassroots activism.
Ntlahla Buthelezi
Campaigner
Ntlahla Buthelezi is passionate about building a food-secure Cape Town. She volunteers with Food Agency Cape Town and Uphakanini Community Kitchen as a food justice activist. She believes that ensuring access to nutritious food is essential to build strong communities and a key strategy in the fight against poverty. Her recent involvement in the Pots and Pens campaign included organizing the campaign launch and participating in the Right to Food Walk on World Food Day. She also helped to coordinate the learning journeys, and engaged in community dialogues and reading circles.She is committed to supporting the vital work of Food Agency Cape Town in creating a more equitable food system.
Lauren Mandindi
Campaigner
Lauren Mandindi live in Scottsdene Kraaifontein. She is a member of the Sisterhood Movement who partnered with Ubuntu Rural Women & Youth Movement during Covid- 19. She was an active member of the Pots and Pens Campaign team, helping to organise activities and liaising with the Ubuntu team throughout. She was also part of the enumeration team doing community research in Klapmuts and Elsenburg. She is a GBV champion and an advocate for Climate Change. Her favourite quote is one from Zig Ziglar: "You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great“
Bonang Libuke
Writer
Bonang Libuke is a Mosotho-South African visual artist, writer, researcher, and activist who uses photography, writing, education, and curation to explore identity, heritage, and belonging. Her work blends abstract, editorial, and humanist visual languages to tell layered stories of self and community, informed by the social and political landscape of post-apartheid South Africa. For Bonang, storytelling is a responsibility, a form of activism, and a tool for collective memory. Her role in the Pots and Pens campaign focused on writing copy for campaign products, such as a leaflet for the launch of the campaign and briefs of research findings.
FUnders
Urban Food Futures Programme
Urban Food Futures was a transdisciplinary, action-research programme (2021–2025) led by TMG Research (Principal investigator Dr Nicole Paganini) in partnership with universities and civil society—including FACT—in Nairobi, Ouagadougou, and Cape Town. Funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the project investigates how urban food systems in informal settlements can be transformed through inclusive governance, community-driven knowledge, and local action to ensure the Right to Food and build resilient urban futures.