Fewer than 75 food parcels for a ward.

That is what is available through the department of social development for Nelson Mandela Bay residents who, in ever-growing numbers, are going hungry during the lockdown.

Food aid to the Eastern Cape is under the spotlight after government figures showed the department would be able to feed only a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of destitute households across the province.

Motherwell builder Urayai Mugari, 33, is one of many parents in the metro desperate to feed his children.

He said he had only a few slices of butternut left to feed the five members of his family.

“My children are Jabu, 8, Righteous, 5, and Zanele, 2. They are too young to understand. They just say they are hungry. It is very tough to hear them.”

Mugari said he usually survived on part-time construction jobs but had not worked for two weeks before the lockdown started on March 27.

“I cannot look for work during the lockdown so from then until now I have been without an income.”

Mugari’s wife, Thembi, 27, is unemployed.

He said, while he understood the need for the lockdown, it had affected him badly.

Originally from Zimbabwe, Mugari has been living in SA since 2009.

“I am afraid my family and I will suffer badly from hunger.”

He said the family had received a butternut from his brother, who had a job.

“We slice it, boil it and eat it like that. We had some yesterday and will have it again tonight,” he said.

Missionvale resident Johannes Goliath, 35, who is also one member in a family of five, said the lockdown was frustrating and depressing. He said while the family was adhering to the rules, by doing so “we are dying of hunger”.

“Giving food to the needy is really good. There are a lot of people who are hungry right now in this area," he said. “I’m unemployed, as are most people in this area, and our groceries ended on March 7.”