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Between November 2015 and April 2017, the cost of a food basket comprising the most basic of items has risen from R1 648.10 to R2 053.98, a 24.6% increase.
This figure was released by the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action (Pacsa) today, showing the rising cost of living in relation to the increase in food prices.
The Pacsa food basket comprises 36 items, and is used as a gauge to monitor food inflation based on the foods that are purchased by women on a monthly basis.
“It provides insight into the affordability of food and other essential household requirements for working class households in a context of low wages, social grants and high levels of unemployment,” according to Pacsa.
Items which are included in the basket focus on foods that are not necessarily high in nutrient content, they are simply the staples that people buy on a monthly basis in order to service their food needs. These include starchy foods such as mealie meal and rice, vegetables like onions and cabbage, fruit such as oranges and bananas, dry beans, meat and poultry, milk, oils, sugars and salt.
Pacsa’s director, Mervyn Abrahams, told City Press that people on the ground are simply surviving on the basics, they are not living.
“People are having to turn to debt in order to sustain themselves, and we are getting deeper into a crisis now. For people who are on social grants, they have to cut back, and the cycle of debt is consuming them,” Abrahams said.
If one looks at the amount of money allocated every month by the South African Social Security Agency to grant recipients, old-age pensioners receive R1 600, much less than the cost of a simple food basket as showcased by Pacsa.
“The protests we are seeing is not surprising, people are in dire straits. The fact that people are still struggling and pushing on says something about the resilience of us, but it also speaks to the crisis of the situation,” Abrahams said.
