The South African Prisoners' Organisation for Human Rights (Sapohr) says that it will meet with the office of Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula about the police's failure to feed prisoners.

"We believe the situation is a national crisis that needs the minister's attention," the organisation's president, Golden Miles Bhudu, pictured, said yesterday.

"He [the minister] must allow us access to the private companies appointed to supply food to prisoners so we can go into a joint venture with them to make sure offenders, whether in police cells, holding cells or prisons are catered for," he said.