The rising cost of food is crippling consumers, with many now forced to dig deep, find second jobs and rely on specials and store cards to get through the month, while others struggle to feed their families on woefully inadequate state grants.
The latest price increases have only made things worse.
And prices would arguably have been even higher had the Reserve Bank — in common with many other central banks worldwide — not been raising interest rates to rein in runaway inflation.
However, certain price increases in SA have been regarded as unjust, particularly on items such as cooking oil, bread and maize meal.
Even middle-class South Africans have had to curb their spending and do without, with some not just forgoing luxuries, but even changing where they shop to feed their families.
One Dispatch reader who asked to remain anonymous said: “We’ve had to scale down and think hard about where and how we shop.
“We have to make sure we use different supermarkets to get the best specials and have recently started travelling to shop at places where we traditionally haven’t, such as Boxer stores, who impressed us with excellent specials, clean environment and service.
“We found it as we can’t afford to spend more at traditional supermarkets.”
Another reader said they had begun to rely on store card credits just to get through the month.
“We used to save the credits on our OK card to give us a little extra for Christmas time, but now we find ourselves needing to use that credit to buy food and essentials to get through the month.”
Others told the Dispatch they had been forced to take on second and even third jobs to survive.
Elvin Bickerton said: “I have a good job with a leading security company, but I also love selling, and fortunately shift work gives me options.”
Bickerton bought a drying machine, sourced meat from an abattoir and makes his own biltong, which he sells door to door.
“With two jobs I get by. Not luxuries but survival. I just don’t know how beggars, the unemployed, the youth and elderly parents survive. If the government can’t fix the problem then who can?”
Renowned economist Dr Andy Andrews said the cost of living, especially food prices, should signal to the government that it had to do something fast and meaningful because starving people were left with few options and desperation could even lead to violence.
“The country has to do something, and quickly. My mind goes to food parcels, vouchers, subsidised foodstuffs with high nutritional value — in fact anything healthy that allows the poor to survive,” Andrews said.
The major problem, he said, was that corruption and greed often got between plans to avert starvation and feed the needy.
According to the April 2023 Household Affordability Index, compiled by the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group, food price data from across the country showed that the cost of the average household food basket increased by R57.75 for the month.
The same basket of items has gone up by a whopping R481.02 compared to April 2022 prices — from R4,542.93 in April last year to R5,023,95 last month.
“Food & nonalcoholic beverages and transport were the main drivers behind the annual and monthly increases,” the group said.
Competition Commission communications head Sipho Ngwema said the commission’s quarterly essential food price monitoring report for 2021 and 2022, released in March, had flagged certain unjust price increases.
“The report says SA consumers were subjected to unjustified price increases of sunflower oil, white and brown bread.
“The examples include large differences between what farmers get paid for food items and in-store prices that consumers pay at the till.”
There was a 32% increase in the price of maize meal.
“There were opportunistic price increases in maize meal over a period of two years.
“The food sector remains a priority for the commission, as poor consumers spend a significant portion of their income on essential food items.
“Food inflation remains elevated and load-shedding continues to affect business operations.”
On March 23, the Competition Commission formally launched an inquiry into the fresh produce market value chain “to examine whether any features in the fresh produce value chain impede, restrict, or distort competition in the market”.
The Dispatch visited three leading retail chains in East London and compared the average price of eight core food items with their prices at the end of February.
- 1kg of potatoes increased by R3.17 to an average of R19.83;
- 750ml sunflower oil decreased by R5 to an average of R35.66;
- A dozen large eggs increased by R2.34 to an average of R38.65;
- A chicken tray decreased by R8.67 to an average of R66.99 a kilo;
- A loaf of brown bread increased by 49c to an average of R12.49;
- A litre of milk increased by R1.84 to an average of R18.33;
- 1kg of butternut decreased by R1 to an average of R17.32; and
- 1kg of maize meal increased by R1.16 to an average of R16.16.
Inflation on food and nonalcoholic beverages continued to accelerate in March.
According to Stats SA, the monthly change in the consumer price index was 1% in March, making this the most significant monthly increase since 2022.
The Dispatch spoke to residents and business owners who had to navigate the cost of food and household items.
Peter Barrow, 58, from Buffalo Flats, partner and manager at Browns Butchery in North End, said they were able to sell chicken at the same price as 2022.
“We’ve been lucky, and have had the same price on chicken for the last year. Chicken is one of the biggest sellers, so we have kept our price to one of the best in town.
“We’ve always been a competitive business and we remain one of the cheapest because we have drawn customers in by buying fresh meat daily.”
Barrow said abattoirs supplying fresh beef and pork had lowered their prices in May, but noted an increase in offal.
“Beef has gone down, pork has gone down. I think there is too much beef at the moment; [suppliers] are trying to get rid of it as Easter wasn’t as good as people wanted it to be. Sales have dropped in beef so the abattoirs have brought down their prices.
“Your cheap offal has gone up; it has become the scapegoat for buying meat — your shanks, your trotters, beef and pork heads, those have skyrocketed.
“A lot of abattoirs are also exporting lamb and mutton.”
Chantel Lombard from Sunbeams Share Kindness, a non-profit charity that assists more than 70 families with monthly food parcels, said prices were crippling poor communities.
“Last year when I had 39 families, R5,000 was just enough for the bare necessities, and now I can’t even buy sugar and cooking oil; those are luxuries.
“You can’t buy fresh fruit or veg; even the prices of tinned foods are extremely high.”
To stretch her charity’s donation-based budget, Lombard shops in bulk but has to divide her grocery haul into smaller offerings because of the cost.
“I check prices beforehand and go through every aisle to see which product is the cheapest, like rice.
“Soup mixes have become extremely high. In December 2022, we used to buy three or four, now we can only get one.
“Yeast has also gone up for some reason.”
Lombard’s food parcels include rice, maize meal, flour, yeast, samp and bean mix, stock bars, baked beans and macaroni.
“Bread and milk have gone up and those are the bare necessities.
“In a family, one loaf of bread lasts a day, but most of the time mom and dad don’t eat because they try to keep that bread for their children for as long as possible.”
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