The rising cost of living in SA is fast becoming one of the most urgent crises affecting us.
From electricity to groceries, the basics of daily life are slipping further and further out of reach for many.
In fact, just this week we read how struggling South Africans were paying more for core foods — bought first to ensure families don’t go hungry — than they did a year ago.
The latest household affordability index compiled by the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group (PMBEJD) shows the average cost of the foods prioritised in the household food basket increased by R25.80 (0.9%) from R2,843.46 in August 2024 to R2,869.26 this August.
The index tracks, monthly, the prices of 44 basic foods from 47 supermarkets and 32 butcheries around the country.
It indicated that the price of a 30kg bag of maize meal had shot up nearly R30 since August 2024, 5kg of samp by R9 and 10kg of frozen chicken portions by R22.
The data shows core foods contribute 53% of the total cost of the household food basket.
When the prices of core foods increase there is less money to secure other important, mostly nutritionally-rich, foods which are essential for health and wellbeing and strong immune systems.
As a result, we are now beyond the point of tightening belts and families are being forced to cut back, not just on luxuries, but also essentials.
And with the prices of food, fuel, and electricity climbing, cash-strapped families are being pushed deeper into debt — and despair.
So what is the solution?
Perhaps one of the quickest ways to ensure our own food security is to consider establishing community food gardens where we can grow our own nutritious vegetables to supplement the core foods we buy.
We can no longer afford to sit back and wait for somebody else to do something; we have already seen extreme cases in the Eastern Cape where mothers, unable to feed their children, commit what has been coined “poverty suicide”.
Nobody should ever die because they simply cannot afford to feed themselves or their families.
The Herald
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