Between 1986 and 1993, ‘Sgudi ‘Snaysi was a popular SABC television sitcom detailing the life of an unemployed man by the name of S’dumo. His landlady was Sis’ May and he was consistently indebted to Laqhasha, a ruthless loan shark. Unfortunately, many South Africans' lives are now mimicking that dysfunctional set-up.
If you ever want to understand the true state of the South African economy, don’t bother reading a Reserve Bank report or the National Treasury’s budget speech. Countless South Africans are asking for airtime advances, payday loans and the latest trend: PayMeNow.
This is an arrangement allowing employees to access a percentage of their pay before the end of their payroll cycle. The charge to the employees is not termed as interest, but sugar-coated as “lower” service charges and costs.
Welcome to the South African economy, where survival is repackaged as innovation and struggle is advertised as financial empowerment. We’re not building wealth, but we’re building a nation of S’dumos, and the banks, apps and so-called fintech platforms are modern-day Laqhashas.
Laqhasha didn’t die with the 90s. He just got rebranded with a sleek user interface and a 24/7 call centre and is masquerading as PayJustNow credit cards and Betway.
Let’s talk about this gambling thing for a moment. We now have a situation where you can bet on whether Real Madrid will beat Chelsea, while you still owe last week’s electricity. The national pastime used to be rugby and now it’s a hopeful Lotto ticket slip and a prayer. At this point, the only jackpot many South Africans are guaranteed is another debit order rejection fee.
Even government’s supposed “solutions” aren't immune from the rot. The much-hyped two-pot retirement system? It’s basically a fancy way of saying: “We know you’re broke, so here’s a small portion of your future, today.” We’ve gone from building a better life to building a better week. We’re not retiring anymore; we’re just rotating our stress like a set of worn Toyota Quantum retread tyres.
And then there’s the payday loan phenomenon. At this point, there are more loan apps than job listings. One moment you’re downloading what you thought was a budgeting tool and the next thing you know you’ve borrowed R1,000 at 45% interest and you’re being chased by a digital Laqhasha with a bad attitude on better WiFi. Fellow South Africans, this is not progress. It’s a pie chart of pain.
But here’s where things get darkly funny. We’ve somehow convinced ourselves that these are signs of an economy that’s working. The CEOs of these platforms show up at fintech summits, applauding themselves for driving inclusion. Let’s be honest, this is not financial inclusion — it’s financial intrusion. We’re not being brought into the economy; we’re being dragged in by the ankle, screaming while someone installs a gambling app on our phone.
You can’t borrow your way to prosperity. You can't bet your way to dignity. And you definitely can’t airtime-advance your way to financial freedom.
We should be investing in industries that create jobs, not downloads of Hollywoodbets. We should be teaching people to save, not gamble. We should be building an economy where you can buy groceries without first checking if your loan has cleared.
We need to stop pretending these things are helping us. They're destructive tendencies advertised as coping mechanisms. They're economic painkillers and, like most painkillers, if you take too many, you don’t solve the problem, you just can’t feel it anymore. But, make no mistake, it's still there, doing lots of internal damage. We’re numb. Numb to the overdrafts. Numb to the rising petrol price.
Ask anyone if they’ve actually saved money this year. You’ll get the same look S’dumo had when Sis' May told him rent was due: wide-eyed, deeply confused and one step away from borrowing sugar just to trade it for salt.
The tragedy is that South Africans are among the most hardworking, creative and resourceful people on the planet. But you can’t hustle your way out of a broken system. At some point, we have to ask: where’s the leadership? Why are we normalising desperation?
We should be investing in industries that create jobs, not downloads of Hollywoodbets. We should be teaching people to save, not gamble. We should be building an economy where you can buy groceries without first checking if your loan has cleared.
In the meantime, let’s call things what they are. South Africa's private household savings rate is appalling, with 2023 figures indicating a rate of -1.10%. This negative rate means that on average, South African households are spending more than they're saving.
Economic progress will be evident when South Africa has more entrepreneurs who'll create jobs for the less fortunate. We'll be heading the right way when one of the first priorities we have after getting paid is saving for a rainy day, and then asking how we can use our hard-earned money to grow the economy and not to make a quick buck by gambling.
We can’t Laqhasha our way to economic freedom. And if you don’t believe me, just ask S’dumo. He’s still trying to pay off that R50 he borrowed in 1991.
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