Launch of the COPAC Food Sovereignty Hub

Launch of Food Sovereignty Hub and Activist Training Centre at Wits

“Today was one of those days when life sparkles and you know that after ten years of consistent transformative activism at Wits, change is happening!

We launched the Cooperative and Policy Alternative Centre Food Sovereignty Hub and Activist Training Centre with activists from Gauteng communities, the Climate Justice Charter Movement and the South African Food Sovereignty Campaign. This is the second hub at Wits and will be the backbone for all our agroecology gardens and forests. It will also be a space for emancipatory pedagogy, zero-input cost agroecology farming research and larger institutional transformation of Wits to accelerate the deep just transition.

These photos offer a glimpse into our agroecology garden, tool bank, seed bank, training space, water harvesting tanks, and more.

We also married this launch to a 4-day activist school and launched the Gauteng Food Sovereignty Forum and process.

I won’t see how the seed sharing, knowledge, and food sovereignty praxis travels into the years ahead and amongst generations. But knowing that foundations have been laid for this brings me immense joy.

Thanks to all the students, activists, academics, WCCO colleagues, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, and the EMS Foundation for your support over the years. Without you, we would not have come this far!”

Professor Vishwas Satgar